Too much fluid or bad wire?

[Rob_B]

Ok, last week it rained really hard for a day and a half, I wasn't splashing around in the puddle's or anything but my O/D Off started flashing at me, and it seemed to shift a little harder, but it wasn't real jreky or anything. I kept driving it and the next day it went away, today it rained pretty hard again and again my stupid light started flashing at me on my way to class, and by the time I was driving home it was gone again. That kind of lead me to assume that it's a bad wire or something's getting wet that isn't supposed to. I went out to check my tranny fluid and it's a good inch above don't add mark. Could that be the problem? The manual said to take it to a shop and have them drain the excess, but if I take it to a shop it'd be smart to have fluid flushed and have the filter changed. BTW I bought my Explorer a couple months ago so I don't know how it became so over filled. I don't know how that would make the light come on whenever it rains though, whichs leads me back to thinking moisture is getting somewhere it isn't supposed to. Do any of u have any other idea's as to what could be causing this, or where to look if it is a bad wire?

Thanks in advance, I did a search for it last week but everybody that had that ligh flash and took it to a shop ended up getting a new or rebuilt tranny, so I want to avoid having a shop diagnose it.

 

[Jason_25]

How many miles?

Have you considered taking it to autozone where they will scan the codes for free?

 

[Rob_B]

My Explorer has 51,600 miles on it. The fluid is still redish, so I'm not sure if it has just been treated well and is origial, or if it has been abused and it was changed b4 I bought it. I can't really take it to autozone and have the code checked because it only flashes when it's raining, and stops later when the rain is over. I'll probably end up getting a full fluid flush and tranny filter change w/ my next pay check, but I'm still not sure if that'll solve the problem. My other option is to redneck it and put electrical tape over the light whenever it rains

 

[Robb]

The codes will be stored and can be read at any point until the OBD is reset. I would take it and have them read. Don't do the tape trick, you may incur a real problem and you will never know it.

Robb

 

[Rob_B]

Ok, Autozone couldn't read my code because it was a tranny light, or the guy just didn't know how to run it, but he "recommended" a good transmission place (it was across the street, and my friend told me he was ripped off from a tranny place on that street, I think it was the one I went to but I'm not positive). Anyway's he hooked it up and the scanner said that my torque converter was stuck on, and that the only way to fix it would be to take my transmission out and have it rebuilt. That makes sense because it did shift harder when the light was flashing. But the day I bought my Ex I had the infamous "4X4 Hi and Lo" flashing, after having a new shift motor put in, it turned out that all it was was a bad relay. Now I'm a poor college kid and my parents aren't well off either, so it would be a strain on me and my parents to get it rebuilt and have me go to college, so if there is ANY possibility that it could be a $15 relay instead of a $1500 rebuild I'll chance it. I'm going to get a second opinion this weekend, but I'd like to know if any of you have had this problem, or have any other idea that could be causing this I would REALLY appreciate the help.

P.S. on a side note an hour after talking to the transmission place my girl friend told me that she wanted to just be friends and said she didn't know why. That doesn't realy have anything to do w/ my transmission, but I'm just really mad right now and hadta tell somebody.

 

[Jason_25]

Man that sucks.

Can't help with the GF but as far as the tranny.....get a second AND 3rd opinion. Does it still continue to shift hard? Is the light still on?

 

[Rob_B]

Thanx

No the light isn't on now, it come's on and off when it wants to, the first time it happened it was on for about a day and a half, maybe 2 day's. The second time it was on maybe a day, and today it was on for about 5 min. I'm going to be driving one of my parent's vehicle's untill I can get it figured out. One of my dad's friends used to work in a auto tranny shop and he's going to work on tranny on my dad's "hot-rod" this weekend, so I'll have him take a look at it. I think it might be a relay because it isn't on all the time, but I'm a wishful thinker also.

 

[Rob_B]

Update

Ok, my dad's friend didn't really want to look at it, but he suggested to clean all the electrical connections that plug into the tranny. So I did that this afternoon b/c it started flashing again, but it was still flashing when I put everything back together. In case u wanted to know I disconnected 3 plugs on the drivers side of the tranny one at a time, sprayed electrical cleaner into them, and then blew them out w/ compressed air to dry the connectors b4 reconnecting them. Again any help would be greatly apprectiated. TIA

 

[88vert]

I would change the filter and fluid it will only cost you about 25 bucks and it cant hurt it,and fill to proper level.

 

[Jon_Herr]

50k miles

I would get a third opinion.

It is really strange to me that a 'bad' connection would be able to cause your transmission to keep the torque converter clutches engaged. Normally a bad connection would NOT engage the torque converter.

You might just need a good fluid flush and change - you should change your fluid ever 30k or so.

But, getting a 'good' fluid flush and change - where ALL of the fluid is changed including what's in the torque converter is as hard to do as finding a good shop.

You can do it yourself, as some guys here on the board have done, but it's a little tedious depending on how mechanically inclined you are.

The third, and least romantic option is a used tranny exchange. This could be your cheapest route.

Jon

 

[Rob_B]

Ok, I've been pretty busy the past month but I got today off so I'm going to get it flushed today. My question is when I was calling around to see about getting it flushed, and I asked him how much more it would cost for him to change the filter along w/ the flush. I know it'd cost more, but I think that when u change the fluid u should change the filter too, or it won't last as long. The guy said that Ford's don't have tranny filter's, but screens, and those don't need to be replace. Is this true? I've never heard of that b4, I don't want to have it flushed and then find out that there is a filter, but I don't wanna have him take it apart to change the filter and not have one.

 

[aldive]

You might want to add an external filter to that tranny. I love mine and have never had a tranny problem.

Good luck.....

 

[Jon_Herr]

Screen

Most are screens. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the explorer transmissions are screens too.

They don't really get clogged up, but normally are replaced when the transmission is serviced.

After re-reading this thread I'm inclined to suggest that you get Ford to read the codes out of the transmission.

It's very likely that you do have an intermittent connection that may be represented by whatever the computer detected with the transmission.

The rough shifting may be an indication of a sensor failure that caused the transmission to enter a type of 'limp home' mode.

Now, it all depends on how much you trust your dealership. But... They have less motivation to sell you a transmission than a transmission shop does.

If you do go to the dealership, be clear about what you want done and get a rough estimate in writing.

Make sure that they understand that you want to pull the codes from the transmission light being on and if possible talk to the technician that is doing the diagnostic.

Talking with the technician directly will give you an idea as to whether you're being fed a line of crap and also a better undertanding of what the code really was and how they'd fix it.

If they have to drop the pan to fix this problem then maybe you can negotiate a fluid and filter change as a 'by the way'. Or maybe the repair can be a 'by the way' of a full transmission fluid service.

Good Luck
Jon

 

[Rob_B]

Alright, yesterday I had the tranny flushed and the light started flashing at me again today. I've done everything I can think of to fix it on my own, so I'll probably end up taking it to the dealership I called a tech from a Ford dealership and he said it would be around $50/hour just for them to diagnose it, and it would probably take around 2 hours. Does that seem about right? I really don't like the idea of spending $100 at the dealership to have them tell me what's wrong w/ it. It's really frustrating me. I'll check back when I get it done (probably not till next week, gotta put a 5.0 in my dad's project/toy this weekend). Thank's for all of your help so far.

 

[Jon_Herr]

Rough call

$100 is about right for access to a good technician.
If you got the impression that you spoke with a good technician, that is. Sometimes this diagnosis fee can be negotiated a little if the dealership proceeds to make the repair - but each case is different.

I almost forgot - go to http://www.flatratetech.com and head for the ford owner support forum. You'll have to register to post your symptoms but it's free access to real and competent techs. In my experience they have responded immediately.

Try this link, it should go straight to the forum:
http://flatratetech.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=13

Best of luck. I would like to know what comes out of this.

Jon Herr

P.S. If it makes you feel any better, I recently paid $75 for my dealership to find a missing fuse. The fuse was gone after some repairs were made at a body shop - they had removed more than one fuse to shut down the airbags. The fuse they left out only affected my 'autolock' feature, and only partially. I had assumed that something was fried - if the body shop had jump started the vehicle or something. Anyway, that was a pain in the $$$$.

 

[Robert]

Try going to a good transmission shop rather than Ford. It will be lighter on your wallet and the repairs will be just as reliable, if not more. They may also diagnose it for free if they know you are going to have them repair it (provided they don't have to take it out or apart). If they do have to take it apart or out to fully diagnose it, they should be paid for their time to do it (especially if you choose to not have them do the work). If your Ford dealer only charges about $50 an hour then that is $32 an hour less than the local dealers here in Phoenix charge. They should be able to hook their test equipment up to your computer and get the code for whatever is causing the problem. That shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour but most places charge the full hour or flat rate of $72 for electronic diagnosis. Don't limit yourself by only going to Ford though. I just had my Wifes transmission rebuilt on her Sable and never even considered going to Ford after their numerous attempts to show their incompetence on my Explorer when it was under warranty. I used a place called Sierra Transmissions. I am certain they did a much better and reliable job than ford would have done. On some items Ford does not repair, they just swap with a remanufactured unit. I know they do this with transfer cases and I think they do it with transmissions. I read it on one of their TSBs. If that is the case then you will likely be looking at about $2200-$2400.

 

[Rob_B]

Well, I finally talked my dad into taking it to a good Ford dealership. My A/C is leaking, so we went to have that fixed, and asked them to look at it while it was in. They put a dye pack in it and they thought it was the gasket behind the valve body. Took it back today to have them find the leak and replace the gasket, now they said that it has metal filing's from the gasket blocking the valve's in the valve body, and they're going to replace the whole valve body My dad wanted to take it to the Ford dealership cause they were good when he bought my sis a Ranger there. He also didn't think that a tranny rebuild consisted replacing the torque converter. Well my dad and I aren't too happy about this, especially since we were supposed to get it back today, but now it'll be monday at the earliest (and I had most of my cd's in my Explorer ). We've also decided that if this doesn't fix the problem I'm going to ignore the light and drive it till it dies. But anyway, that's what's going on w/ it now.

 

[88vert]

Hope everything turns out well Rob

 

[Jon_Herr]

Best of Luck

It should turn out that Ford will replace the valve body at a reasonable rate. There have been numerous fixes that Ford applied to this particular valve body - such as the missing 1st gear problem - that will help.

I have the same transmission that you do, and Ford replaced valve body parts to fix a 'whistling' sound coming from the transmission. This was done as part of a transmission fluid change for the cost of parts.

The bottom line is: Ford has access to updated parts and procedures that 3rd party shops do not have...

Good luck!
Jon

 

[Rob_B]

Got er back

Well the Ford dealership called today and said that they had it done, they didn't find the leak which was the first thing I asked them about, but they replaced the valve body and gasket and so far so good. I'll let ya know if it doesn't take care of the problem.