Hey TireIron, i need a little technical info...

[Geeshik]

Hi. i posted this first in my other thread, but thought it was more relevant to the transmission section:

Here's the background. i have a 5R55E automatic and i have been having problems with the truck overreving the engine and going back into fourth gear when it is on the highway. It sometimes throws a code and i had the dealership check it out, and they told me that it was a bad gasket between the valve body and the transmission. i have driven it a long time just fine with the overdrive off, but i am driving greater distances to work and i need all the help with fuel economy that i can get. The dealer wants $375 for parts and labor to do the job, and now that i am into it, i can see why i should have let them do it, but someone in an explorer forum told me that i could do it in one afternoon being that i am a mechanic anyway. i am an experienced mechanic, but not experienced with auto transmissions.

So i pulled my driveshaft, my pan, my filter, and my valve body to replace the seperator plate/gaskets that i bought at my local ford dealer for about $22. It's all out now, i unbolted the separator plate and found that there are two little springs with a cap that pushes against the seperator plate. i also noted that there are four little balls that have channels that they ride in. There is a fifth channel, but there is no ball in it. Are there supposed to be five balls?

Bear in mind, i was very careful to remove and mark each bolt position and each part that came off. i was very careful in moving and cleaning the valve body, however, two of the valves came out; one on each side, and i am kinda unsure of how they go back into the valve body. There is a long end that the spring fits pretty snug on and i assume that is how they go back into the valve body, but i could be wrong. What do you think?

Now there is also this little piece of metal that is "L" shaped and it is also not in it's place. i took a close look at the valve body, and i saw that there are other pieces of metal that are shaped similar that look like they hold the valves in or limit their movement or something. i need help so i can get this back together and get it in. i also need to find that gasket for the pump cover because i didn't know i needed a new one. Now that it is all apart, i am kinda stuck because my only other vehicle is a motorcycle, and it is supposed to rain all week long. Can i get a little help?

 

[Geeshik]

i think i found some good info...

So i did a search and yielded this result:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140987

This has very detailed and very good information. i discovered i am missing one of the "L" clips and i also discovered that i should probably upgrade my valve body since the spacer plate i received is an upgraded one for the Ford TSB.

 

[TireIron]

yea, I wouldn't worry about the balls as long as you havent lost any or dropped them out as some have 3 and some have 4 (the two 5R55Es I did had only 3 balls).

That is a great post on explorerforum and is where I found a ton of info before I started messing with these trannys. They had pictures in there of all the parts and stuff of where the clips went and all. Try taking a look through there for some pictures of where the L retainer belongs on you valve body.

If you have an upgraded seperator plate then you should definitly get the upgrade relief valve if you don't already have it. Look at the pictures in that thread and one of them should show you what the new valve from Ford looks like. When I did the '03 and '05 they both already had that valve in the rear of the valvebody so take a look and see if it's there already, if not grab the parts and throw it in, it's really easy to do.

As for the two valves that fell out, can you look around in the pictures from that thread and see where they may go and what retainers are used for them? Without being able to see what you're talking about it's really tough to figure out where they go as you can now understand how many little parts are in there heh.

Oh and for the pump gasket, if you still have it and its in fine shape you can just reuse it, I have on both and neither of them had an issue, it seems to be a different material than the seperator plate gaskets and is much more stout. It doesnt crush down and bond itself to the parts either.

 

[Geeshik]

Thanks.

Thanks, TireIron. i am just waiting for the dealership to open now... Hopefully they have the parts in stock. Have a good day.

 

[TireIron]

good luck and let us know how it goes. And when you bolt the valve body back in BE SURE to use an inch-lb torque wrench and torque all the bolts down in the correct sequence. Do the 4 pump bolts last and torque them the same as all the other bolts.

 

[Geeshik]

I did the updates...

Well, i did the updates, and my transmission shifts awesome now and i have overdrive back, however, now my o/d off light is blinking after it warms up and i smell trans fluid burning.

i have access to a genisis scan tool and i have been going through the parameters most of the afternoon since i finished work. i haven't slept in almost 36 hours! Basically, the light blinks when the torque converter clutch (TCC) becomes stuck and doesn't engage anymore. It also dumps all kinds of fluid out the transmission dipstick tube or something because it gets all over the cats and then it smokes like crazy...

i finished the ford mods on the valve body last night because i didn't get all of my parts until about noon on Tuesday. (Luckily i had Monday and Tuesday off of work.) i also installed the superior shift correction kit minus the one valve that i was unable to remove from the valve body and the only reason they say to replace it is because there is a small piece that "creates metal shavings" or something to that effect...but they must know that it is a bugger to get out of there because they have a clause in the rebuild instructions that tells you to just clean it all up very good if you can't remove it. i spent about 2 hours yesterday trying to get it out and i finally gave up on it.

i also didn't replace the servos because i just didn't have the time or the money at the moment. (That's why i did it myself instead of having the Ford dealer do it, and it ended up costing me almost as much money, and probably 3times the time). Well, i did everything as it said to do, however, i did notice a few possible variables in this TCC failure equation:

1) The reverse servo did have a kinda mushroomed top on it where it goes inside the transmission. There were some stress cracks that accompanied the mushrooming too. So, i took it to the grinder at work and ground it to the same diameter of the rest of the shaft and i did as best i could to get the stress cracks out and i polished it before i re-installed.

2) i installed the pressure riser resistor on the EPC valve... Not too many guys on the Explorer site seemed willing to do it and i hemmed and hawed myself, but i figured that if it is in the kit, it can't hurt...

3) i was too late to read your post on the reverse servo cover and i didn't torque it to 95 in lb like i did on the rest of the VB. i used a regular ratchet and tightened it to what i felt was reasonably snug, but not over the top... The only reason i did that is because i did not have torque specs for it and i thought it might be under slightly more pressure than the rest of the vb because of the large-diameter servo. (?) In any event, i'm sure it has something to do with something i did because it is the first time i've ever tore into an auto trans. This truck has just over 81,000 miles on it now.

At this point, i am at a loss. i am stuck at work about 40 miles from home and i have a baby girl asleep at home, so my wife can't come get me. i would really rather just solve this problem and move on with my life and enjoy my nice-shifting Explorer for the first time since i bought it. (i haven't had overdrive since i sold my 94 Ranger with a 5sp manual...the last automatic car i had was a '79 Thunderbird.) Also, something to note might be that this was a flood-damaged, salvage-titled vehicle. It has had most of the stuff replaced (sensors and electrical gizmos) along with misc. interior stuff, but it has probably close to 40,000 miles on it since it was salvaged, and the trans just started acting up before i bought it. i got it for a pretty good price, otherwise i would not have considered it. Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

i think i am going to drain and inspect the fluid and pull the pan back off again. Maybe i can use the company vehicle to run to the store and get some Mercon V. Maybe i'll pull that pressure riser off and remove the valve body again and double check everything stayed where it was supposed to. Do you think the gaskets will be okay yet, or will i have to get a new seperator plate?

 

[Geeshik]

Oh, and there are some other codes...

i have a P0460 Fuel Level Sense Circuit Malfunction, a P0731 Incorrect Gear 1Ratio, a P0732 Incorrect Gear 2 Ratio, and last but not least, my P0741 TCC System Performance Stuck.

 

[Geeshik]

Question...

On a 5R55E, the TCC solenoid and valve assy controls the Torque Converter Clutch, correct?

 

[TireIron]

yes the TCC solinoid controls the converter lock up.

 

[Geeshik]

Okay, i thought so yesterday, so i pulled my pan and valve body back off and removed the tcc solenoid after testing it and seeing it was within range. Then i looked and remembered it was one of the valves that fell out of the VB when i originally removed it. So i double checked to see which way it goes in, and mine was backward... That explained everything to me. Now it is back in with some new fluid and a new filter and the trans is great. Thanks. i hope no-one ever makes the same mistake i did. i wasted about $60 in the cost of fluid and a filter.

 

[TireIron]

ouch yea that Mercon V is pretty pricey, but I'm glad to hear it's back up and going strong.