Tranny is acting funny

[jcoulter]

Have an '02 EB. Has a 4.0 engine. The tranny just starting doing some weird things. First, front a dead stop, it jerks a couple times when taking off. Secondly, when it gets up around 40 mph, I notice some more jerking. Like it can't make up its mind as to if it should stay in 4th of 5th gear. Seems to go back and forth. Any help is appreciated.

 

[daveleeander]

How many miles do you have on it??
Have you ever flushed the tranny?
Have you ever changed the filter?

Dave

 

[jcoulter]

The tranny has 109k miles on it. The transmission was flushed at about 40k and 80k. The second time was by Ford. I'm assuming they changed the filter each time. The changes cost about $120 each so for that price I would think that they'd change the filter. Could be wrong though. Are you thinking that I just need to flush it again?

 

[daveleeander]

No,
If you have flushed it regularly like you have, I'm thinking your solenoid block is beginning to go. The milage is right. THe symptoms are right for the first part of failure. It will hesitate going into reverse next, then when you put it into drive, there will be more hesitation. If it were cold weather, I would say you would already be experiancing those type things.
Just my opinion, and I could be wrong, but I've gone through it with my '02, as well as several more on the board.

By the way, what tranny do you have? The 5R55W or the 5R55E?

Dave

 

[jcoulter]

I'm pretty sure I have the 5R55W. It doesn't have a dipstick if that helps. Tell me more about this solenoid block. What's it take to replace this? Is this a DIY job?

 

[daveleeander]

Yes,

You can do it yourself. It requires dropping the pan, unbolting the block and bolting the new one back on (torque wrench required ). Replacing the pan, and refilling with fluid. It took me about 2.5 hours. Putting the fluid back in was the worst time consumer. There are other threads on here (Under transmissions forum) listing the procedure. Do a search and see what you find. I am not sure this is the problem, but the '02 5R55W's seems to have this as a problem. I think this is the first ones that Ford put all of the solenoids in one block instead of having them as seperate entities.
The block from Ford is around $260.00 - $300.00. You can find them on e-bay and other places a little cheaper.

Dave

 

[jcoulter]

Thanks Dave.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Here's the link to the 5R55W fluid refill procedure thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118654