Transmission issue ? Help ?

[Radjjak21]

Hello , I have a 2002 for explorer Sport Trac..
The other day I went to go pick a friend up and on my way back home my transmission revved and shifted hard and thumped in almost every gear and the O/D light was flashing.. I pulled over and shut the truck off to reset it.. Turned it back on and the RPMs were revving up to 2,500.. When I put it in gear it dropped back to around 800..overdrive light stopped flashing and I Drove it home.. Felt like it was taking a long time to shift in a lower gear.. Fluid was full looked fine to me but noticed the fluid didn't really have a smell to it.. ( I change my tranny fluid in my 08 Grand Prix GXP every 20,000 miles and know that strong tranny fluid smell) anyway anyone else have similar issues???

 

[01STrunner]

I had the same exact issues and they were solved by replacing the shift solenoids. Best thing to do for you is to get your codes read with a code reader (sometimes you need a higher quality ones to see the "gray codes" of the OD light flashing). That will tell you what solenoids are bad. Then you can order the replacements from Rock Auto and replace them.

Replacement is easy. Drop the trans pan, take off the filter, and you will see the valve body with the solenoids there. I had to look up images to show me which solenoids were which. Replace the solenoids and I took this chance to also replace my trans filter and gasket. Add 4qts of ATF to the pan and put back up. Over the next couple days, check to make sure the fluid level is where it should be.

 

[Radjjak21]

What transmission do I have in this ? 5r55e or 5r55w? Rock auto says 5r55e but other sites are saying the opposite change over in 2002 ? I see replacement valve body kits with the solenoids in them on eBay is that a good idea to get ? Thanks...

 

[Radjjak21]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ST...valve+body&dpPl=1&dpID=51B1q6EhxRL&ref=plSrch

 

[01STrunner]

We have the 55e. The changeover was referring to the 3rd gen Explorers.

 

[01STrunner]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ST...valve+body&dpPl=1&dpID=51B1q6EhxRL&ref=plSrch

That looks like it would work, but I would also look around the Drivetrain specific forum to see if there is a valve body that is recommended over others. Here's a link to it: https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=109

 

[mennitti]

"I'm going through a similar situation. I replaced the transmission two months ago, had it reprogrammed at a dealer, but when I first shift into drive it revs to about 2k and then catches and takes off hard, randomly shuts off overdrive, and I have a flare at 20mph, until it warms up then all problems disappear. Today it did all this manually as I switched back and forth between 4wd and 2wd, so I'm wondering if the Transfer Case Control Module is affecting this in some way."
2003 Sport Trac