Swapped '01 5R55E with another '01 5R55E, but they aren't compatible.

[Mbrooks420]

Hope you feel better soon. Root canals are often made out to be worse than they are. You'll be feeling back to normal in a few days.

 

[Silver X]

It sucks right now, because everything tastes like the nasty temporary filling material. I have the same stuff on the otherside too, where they repaired a temporary crown yesterday too. That one was supposed to be replaced with a permanent crown next week, but will have to wait till next year, now that my insurance is maxed. All my fillings are around 20 years old and are cracking and falling apart. I've had 7 fillings replaced last year and 2 this year. Along with 2 crowns.

So far the meds work OK unless I'm eating. Any pressure hurts like hell, so I have to be careful not to chew with that side.

 

[410Fortune]

That is the neautral sensor, you can EASILY wire around that sucker...

the newer trans simply has it built into the DTRS (range sensor)

I wish I would have seen this thread earlier, if you compare the wiring schematics for your trans from say 99-2000 model year, and then 2001.25+ you can see how to wire around the NSS...

 

[Silver X]

So I'd just have to cut that extra connector off my harness and splice the wires somewhere else?

You wouldn't happen to have the wiring schematics for both types would you?

I don't know where to get them.

 

[CDW6212R]

Good catch Jaime, hopefully that can be done easily, YOU know how sensitive that wiring can be. Mike, take your time with that, double check the wiring logic several times as you go. Regards,

 

[Silver X]

Unfortunately, I haven't found any wiring schematics that even show the new sensor. Have no idea where to get it. Anyone here have it?

My 5R55E service manual doesn't mention the sensor either. This manual was updated in '03.

So far I'm still headed toward swapping internals. I cleaned/degreased my old trans last night and will open it up tonight.

 

[410Fortune]

alldata.com will have the wiring schematics you need, or Ford

What I am saying is the neautral sensor circuit that used to go to the N sensor in your old trans is now simply inside the range sensor
This neautral sensor is wired to the starter relay circuit and basically it says "okay you can start, I am in N or P" the sensor is now just built into your range sensor functions, it should not be difficult to wire around.

how many wires on the old range sensor?

How many on the new?

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, I didn't know that the sensor was the neutral function wire. If that's all it is then moving the simple wiring for the old sensor to the different DTRS sensor should be easy.

First compare the two DTRS sensor connectors first. If it is that simple then plan to use the new trans intact as it is.

 

[Silver X]

Ok, I checked both range sensors and both harnesses. Fortunately the new trans came with a harness. They both have the same amount of wires. Most of the wires are the same colors.

Range selector wires on the new trans:
1)empty
2)grey / pink stripe
3)green / yellow
4)yellow / black
5)green / black
6)white / black

7)black
8)red / white
9)light purple / pink
10)orange / red
11)black / pink
12)pink


On the truck:
1)empty
2)grey / pink stripe
3)green / yellow
4)yellow / black
5)green / black
6)white / black

7)black
8)red / white
9)purple / orange
10)yellow / red
11)black / pink
12)pink

 

[CDW6212R]

That wiring data is good and bad. There is no big color difference, but if the neutral circuit is added in the later sensor, you want to see more wires in the later range sensor.

 

[Silver X]

Yeah, I was hoping to see a difference in the number of wires.

I think the "older model" early '01 trans that I bought should have more wires at the range selector.

The "newer model" late '01 trans from my truck has the new extra sensor away from the range selector, so would have less wires at the range selector.

Had too much house work to do yesterday, so didn't get a chance to take anything apart. Probably won't get a chance to work on them again until Monday. So it'll give me more time to figure out if splicing the wiring will work.

 

[410Fortune]

I believe the change is in the computer, the computer now uses the DTRS to determine park and N, allowing the starter relay to fire.
The older style simply still had a NSS switch.

You can bypass the NSS if you wish to use the newer trans, as I said just make sure you are in P or N when you turn the key to start...

Some aftermarket shifters have a NSS built in.

You could also look into using the later 01 computer and chang out the trans harness?

I dunno, what I do know is I would do just about anything to avoid rebuilding another auto trans... the rebuild is usually when the nightmare begins....

 

[CDW6212R]

I understand what you are saying Jaime. What seems odd is for Mike to have a later truck with the extra sensor, and the early trans has it built into the DTRS.

 

[Silver X]

See that's where I'm confused now. None of the manuals or diagrams I've found have that sensor except this page that BrooklynBay posted. It says it is the ISS sensor used by the PCM for the new Shift-Adaptive Electronic-Pressure-Control Strategy. I'm kinda pissed that the trans manual I just bought doesn't show it, even though it was updated in 2003.

My 2000 trans doesn't have that sensor or a boss for it. My early 2001 replacement trans doesn't have that sensor, but has an unmachined boss there. The trans from my late 2001 truck has the extra sensor.

I don't want to start cutting anything until I'm positive everything is going to the right places. I'd also like to avoid taking the trans apart if at all possible.

My wife is nagging me right now to go fix it, so I'm going to start with the VB upgrades this morning. That needs to be done anyway. Our other plans for today were cancelled, so I have to work on this instead. Hopefully I can delay a little longer until we figure out what can be done with the wiring.

 

[CDW6212R]

That 2001 model year was very busy for Ford and the Explorers. That is a new body style, and many changes were made to the chassis. 2002 was the year that I though began the adaptive shifting trans programming. It would make sense for it to have started with the new 2002 body style of 4drs. So the question is what changes were made with the trans in the new Sport Trac(Sports are the same basically), and when did they begin.

I am suggesting that the information available from many sources may be flawed. You may run across information which was created before the vehicles(predictions), but didn't happen that way. Ford dealers(service) will have the same DVD records that you/we can get on eBay etc. I don't know what to tell you Mike, without more clear evidence of that sensor and wiring, I likely would still pull them apart.

 

[Silver X]

OK, finally had time to work on this again.

I swapped some of the internals and the bellhousing/pump asy from the replacement trans over to my truck's original case. I rebuilt the replacement VB using the Superior kit and swapped that in too. Everything is torqued to specs and the bands are adjusted to specs. The harness is plugged in and there aren't any loose connectors hanging around. The new aux trans filter is installed after the aux cooler.

Everything is back in the truck and torqued down except for the secondary cat-pipe. I had two nuts left to tighten, but they got down to about 1/8" from the flange and stopped. Neither would go any farther. I tried to remove the nuts, but both studs just snapped right off. I pulled the pipe out and tried hammering the studs out, but they won't budge. Tried drilling one of them out, but broke off a bit when I stepped up to a larger size. Today, I get to try to press them out. Hopefully the pipe asy will fit in our hydraulic press out in the garage at work. Otherwise I'll have to take it to an exhaust shop to do it. Should be back together and running tonight. After all this trouble, the trans better work!

 

[Silver X]

It is all back together and the trans works beautifully. No leaks anywhere and the shifts are much better. I was scared to do this myself, but glad I did.

It drives differently than it used to. Instead of always staying at 3000 rpm, no matter the throttle position and speed, the engine speed actually varies now. That old torque convertor was toast, and had been junk since I can remember. Gas mileage should go up!

There is another problem now....unrelated to the trans. The steering wheel has a shudder like there is air in the lines or something. It stays calm when driving straight, but tries to rip out of my hands when starting to turn more than a few degrees. Also does this when only one tire hits a bump. It saws side to side for a few seconds then calms down. I'll start another thread for this though.

 

[Cobraguy]

Congratulations!! It's rare to find someone with zero experience willing to dive into a transmission like that. Nice job. I didn't see this thread in time to offer advice. I would have considered having your new case machined for the sensor. That way you would get the newer case too. I don't want to contradict Jamie, but I question that being a neutral switch. When you pulled it out, was it a sensor that read shaft speed? Not sure how that could be a neutral switch. But I've been wrong before.

As for your steering, check your rack bushings and tie rod ends. See if you don't find something there.

 

[Silver X]

Thanks!

I've rebuilt manual transmissions before, but this was my first time even opening up an auto trans. Usually, I just buy another one and slap it in.

I wasted alot of time trying to avoid tearing into it. I heard so many stories of people screwing things up, or developing new problems. It made me scared to mess mine up and spend more money. I was very careful to make sure everything was perfectly clean and bolts were torqued correctly.

It really helped having the service manual with illustrations and all the correct specs. The layout of the manual made it a little confusing to find my specific problem areas, but at least I could find how everything was supposed to go together. Didn't help that they had some of the pages out of order and stapled in upside down. I wouldn't have tried this if I didn't have a detailed manual to show me what to expect. Too many little things could fall out or be misaligned.

I was glad the truck sits so high too. I did the whole job with the truck sitting at ride height on all four tires. No jack or jack stands in the way. Only had to lift up the rear end for a couple of minutes to drag the trans out and again to slide it back under the frame rail. Didn't want it any higher, because my trans-jack was pretty much maxed out already.

I considered machining the replacement trans, but would've had to take it all apart to clean up the shavings. I didn't want to worry about missing some of them either. Plus I'd have to know the exact dimensions for the hole that has to be drilled and the exact depth to machine off the height of the boss. Then drill and tap the blind hole for the bolt. It was easier to not mess with that. Sure would've been nice to have the clean new trans under there.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well done Mike, very good job. For the steering, has the fluid been low or out recently? That shuddering is very common anytime any real amount of air gets into the system. Changing any PS part will do that. Run the steering wheel through many cycles of turning full lock to lock. Do it many times but not too fast or hard. Regards,