Opinion..Is it worth it?

[jim1019]

So, I have an 02 XLT w/4.0L V6. The O/D Light is flashing and the dealership and an independent tranny shop both say the same thing... servo bore, meaning a tranny swap in the neighborhood of $2500. It's got 125K miles on it with some other minor electrical issues. Is it worth repairing? I need it to last a minimum of 3yrs/30K miles before I can afford something newer. No other major issues as of right now, but the motor does tick (lifter noise) a lot, but that has been going on since I got it. That $2500 would make a decent down payment on something newer, but I really don't want a car payment right now. HELP! I'm having a very hard time deciding what to do. If I spend the money on the tranny and then something else major happens, I won't be able to afford to fix it. I try to maintain my vehicles and I'm surprised to find that the tranny is such a common problem!

Thanks for the opinions in advance.

 

[Ronin8002]

Since they are pretty sure it's the servo bores, you could invest a much smaller amount of money in repairs by doing this:

http://www.fordservoboretransmissionfixsolution.com/

Other members on this forum have done this modification with success, might be worth $209 to give it a try before throwing in the towel.

 

[gasparny]

Servp Bore Piston Oring Fix.

I have an 04 XLT with 140,000 miles. Found and replaced the broken OD piston at 68,000 miles by removing the transmission.. Started having similar issues at around 130,000 mile but with intermittent OD flashing and P0775 code. I did not want to remove the transmission or the catalytic converters. I was able to remove the OD Piston by using the instructions from the servobore transmission fix solution website and it was not broken. I only removed the catalytic converter shield and the engine cross member to do it. Snap ring was a bear. Used a set of angled needlenosers from Harbor Freight. Had to adjust the bend and some grinding on the bench grinder resulted with success. Installed oringed OD piston and the transmission feels like normal again.

It helped the Explorer three ways. First I have normal shifting and it stays in overdrive unless you give it substantial throttle. Second, it does not have that crazy throttle hesitation when making normal turns anymore. And thirdly, the MPG has gone back up to around 20 mpg from a low of about 15 mpg.

Hopefully it will not require an oring replacement for awhile.

Just wanted to share my experience with the modified servo bore piston solution.