To:Opera House or Any Tranmission Expert

[Dyerstr8s]

I was told you are THE MAN when it comes to transmissions! Hey what an honor, right?
Anyway, here is my delimma. A long time in business, reputable tranny shop overfilled my tranny with fluid after fixing the bands for 2nd gear and OD (my 95 4x4 XLT 150,000 miles). They said the rest of the transmission looked like new.

We discovered their error about 2 months later when it started slipping as shifting to 2nd gear. We took it back and they drained the fluid. 2nd gear was still slipping, took it back again and they said it was a Vacuum line. I picked it up today and it is hesitating before going into reverse and drive. Shifts to 2nd fine. I called him and he says this is normal--it should last a long time, and Explorers do this, but he didn't notice anything! Well yeah, my 91 did this right before the tranny went out completely. The 95 has never done this, but it does have a lot of miles on it. Anyway what kind of damage can be done other than the seals--from over filling with fluid?

 

[410Fortune]

if it is hesitating slightly before engadging D or R, check the fluid level.

If it is low it will take longer.

check the fluid level per the book , meaning drive thuck around, get up to op temp, run it through all the gears, then park it, let it idle in P and check the fluid level.

Should be in the hatch marks.

 

[Opera House]

So they just fixed the band, not rebuild it

You can almost overfill by 7 quarts. This causes foaming and that can reduce pressure and cause slipping. You said second feels ok now so you can probably forget about that. If the low/reverse servo O ring is origional, it is probably leaking. This band takes a lot of pressure to operate. A couple fluid changes have probably made that leak worse. This is fairly easy to change but you probably need to buy the whole rebuild kit ($30) to get the one part. It has a new design with a double lip seal. You could change this yourself. Just a little more work than changing the filter. Like he said, the rest of the transmission is probably just fine.

 

[Dyerstr8s]

They replaced the bands with new ones, it cost over $800.00, so I guess I was wrong in saying they fixed it.
I did have it flushed and the filter changed a couple of months before the shop woirked on it the first time.

 

[Opera House]

Not sure what you want to do about it

Live with it or correct the problem. Don't think it is because it was overfilled and they don't claim to have put in new seals. $800 is not unreasonable for the work they did. Few shops will do just a repair for this very reason, they are blamed for everything that comes after. I gather you are not going to work on this yourself.

 

[88vert]

operahouse

How is a guy supposed to PM you?

 

[Dyerstr8s]

Opera House--reply

Thank you. I appreciate the reply. I personally do not know anything about transmissions, although--I am mechanically inclined and figure a lot of things out with a little time and effort. The bad thing is we don't have a garage.

I was only asking about the overfill because a friends husband--who is a desiel mechanic said it could cause damage to the pump. I think it would have happened before now--but that is just my opinion.

I do a lot of long distance interstate driving in addition to off road situations, so the Explorer is perfect for both. I just don't want to get stranded somewhere, so I like to take care of the small things with this vehicle before they get worse. If the tranny is not likely to go all the way out due to this current problem, I won't worry about it.

Thanks again,

 

[Opera House]

PM

This forum is for the general edification of others. I believe in the sharing of experiences. For that reason I have no need of or have PM on any board. If anyone is near death and wants to leave me a bunch of money, post it and I will probably get back to them.

Slow engagements will wear any clutch more. That still may not lower the effective life of the transmission. Do you still have good engine braking on hills in manual low? If it doesn't pass that test, I would do something about the servo.

 

[scholzee]

Opera House could you give me a step by step procedure to change the servo oring. My D to R hesistates and its a 1992 with 165K on it.

 

[Opera House]

Procedure

This thread is located at:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=60887&goto=newpost

Has the procedure I think on page 2 of these 50+ posts with like title. Should have all the info you need.

 

[Dyerstr8s]

Engine Braking

It passes the test--engine braking is still good in low.

However now--but not always, it is either shifting hard or hesitating in all gears.

 

[jetmaker]

Opera House,

You mention engine braking in manual low... what exactly do you mean? Does manual low refer to downshifting to 3rd gear, or changing the transfer case to 4x4 LO.

The reason I ask is that my 5-spd automatic 2000 XLT does not seem to demonstrate engine braking when going downhill, even when shifted into lower gears (D w/ OD off, 2, and 1).

Thanks,
jetmaker

 

[Opera House]

Think about a motorized boat winch

that you may have used or seen in a movie. It would have to be an old movie. The winches in movies today only have sparks and flames coming out of them. The winch has a drum that is turning continuously. A couple of turns of rope are wrapped around it, one side is connected to a heavy load and the operator pulls with light force on the other. Pulling on the rope increases the friction of the rope on the drum and allows the force of the winch to be transferred to the load. Each section of the rope puts more force on the next section, increasing the friction. If the operator releases tension on the rope, the friction is reduced and the load connected to the rope will allow the rope to stop or travel in the reverse direction. A lot of control from a simple device.

The low/reverse band operates just like this. It is a double wrap band, just like two turns of a rope, that amplifies the force of the servo piston in one direction. The engineers selected the direction the force of the piston is applied to get the most advantage from the expected torque. The servo piston is much larger than the OD and INTERMEDIATE servos because of the large torque that can be expected in both directions. Bands are not the ideal way to clutch, but they are compact. Since it is weakest in the opposite direction, a test of engine braking in manual first can show various band problems. It should not be confused with engine braking at higher speeds which is more complex and involves more components. Low engine braking is one of the tests that is done to determine gasket problems with the 5R55E.

 

[memhorn]

When I check my transmission fluid, it shows about one inch too high (overfill) on the stick. I have done this several times, following the manual instructions carefully, and always the same result.

Is this much overfill likely to cause any damage/problems? I just bought this Explorer (98 XLT, SOHC, 4-wd, 68k), and it had only been serviced by a Ford dealer (Transmission Service at 51k). I would take it back to this dealer, but they are pretty far away.

I appreciate any opinions. This is a wonderful site!

 

[Opera House]

I think you can put seven extra quarts in this transmission if you really try. As fluid level increases, it reaches the gears which can whip air into it. That can reduce pump pressure. An inch over the high temp mark seems a little high but I wouldnt expect it to cause noticible problems. You could wait a while. Wheneve a transmission goes up or down a hill fluid is always whipping around in the gears. A small tube could be used to suck or siphon it out that would fit in the dipstick tube.