Metal piece in 5r55e pan?

[ford1386]

I just bought an 08 ranger 2.3 2.3 2wd with 88,000 miles as a cheap commuter truck. It's been great for the last 7k miles but I wanted to install a transgo shift kit, so I bought a case of mercon V, the transgo kit, and a new bonded separator plate and servo gasket, thru dropped the pan drained the fluid out and found what seems to be some sort of thrust washer piece in the pan. Then upon removing the valve body there was some small shards of the same copper colored metal on top of the separator plate in one hole. I cleaned them all off and installed the transgo kit and topped off fluid and it drives like a champ. But should I be concerned as to what the pieces were?

 

[ford1386]

Piece from pan

 

[adsm08]

Yes, you should be concerned.

Pieces like that shouldn't just be sitting in the pan.

It does look like a thrust washer, which means something is now riding on something it shouldn't and wearing on it.

 

[ford1386]

Here is the piece laying on the separator plate

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, probably a smaller piece of that trust washer.

The "bearings" that sit between the gears sets and clutch drums in an auto are a lot like engine bearings in their constructions. They are copper pieces, coated in a steel layer, and have no moving parts, which makes them more bushing than bearing.

When they get enough wear sometimes they break in two, like that one did. How long the trans lasts after that depends on where the pieces end up and what they get into. Most of the time the filter picks up a lot of it, but the magnet won't hold any of it because copper is a non-ferrous metal.

 

[ford1386]

Yea I hear ya, we'll good news is I put about a 80 miles on today and it still shifts good.

 

[adsm08]

Eh, run her 'til she blows.