HELP! 96 Explorer 4r55e Transmission trouble

I have a 1996 Ford Explorer that I bought a used 4r55e transmission. I saw this tranny in a wrecking yard, someone pulled the engine and the tranny was just hanging by the shift cable, so I grabbed it! I saw that it was possibly a rebuild because it had a new converter and the factory tags had been washed away. My old transmission had bad solenoids and this tranny was cheaper than buying new ones. I pulled the pan and welded in a drain plug ( the pan was clean of metal or clutch material! ). I installed a new filter and gasket, front and rear seals ( old seals looked brand new! ) and installed it in my truck. I patially drained the tourqe converter by turnning it upside-down in a bucket. I filled the transmission with 4 quarts of mercon fluid and 1 bottle of Lucas transmissin additive, and then started the engine. I then started to add the second 4 quart jug of mercon trans fluid and decided to check the fluid level. It was a tad overfull! I ran the trans through all the gears and it worked fine! It shifted through all gears while on jack stands. I then drained a little fluid out with my new drain plug and set the truck on the wheels, checked for leaks ( a little fluid seeped out of the overflow vent ), I cleand it up and went for a test drive! It backed up fine but NO DRIVE! I have NO forward gears at all! it worked fine on the stands! I also noticed a slight front pump whine ?? HELP! Could overfilling the transmission blow something out! could the thicker lucas additive make this problem worse?? Im STUCK!
I appreciate any and all coments or advice!
Thanks,
Richard
AKA Magick_Man

The Lucas foams up, and makes the level appear to be higher than it really is.

I thought of that, and I added more fluid.. still no drive

Did you check it when it was hot or cold? How many quarts of transmission fluid did you add since you installed it? This is one of the links in # 14 in my list of useful threads: Dead Link Removed

Filling Trans fluid

I pre-filled the torque converter (it only took about a quart of fluid). And I put the transmission in neutral while I filled it! I have a total of 8 quarts of mercon ATF in the system. I assume the converter had some oil in it because it's hard to drain it all out by turning the converter upside down in a bucket. The transmission worked great on the jack stands, speedo worked and it went through all the gears and shifted crisp! I don't understand why if doesn't work on any of the forward gears now???

Richard

AKA Magick_Man

Subscribing. This is interesting.

Have you tried putting it back on jack stands and seeing if it works "normally" again?

i have a 95 explorer expidition model 4x4 it has reverse gear all the time but the forward gears only work when its cold i am tryin to figure out whats goin any suggestions would be great thanks :exp:

Check the valve body gaskets, and the valve body bolts.

thanks i will give it a shot i've only had my x for a month but i love driving it and really wanna get back behind the wheel again

yea i have the same problem with my 96 ex i have reverse gears but no forward gears, could the filter just be like mega clogged? or am i a dumbass for suggesting that lol

There is more hydraulic pressure in reverse, so it's possible that reverse could work, but not other gears if there is a clog or some other issue. Check the filter, and let us know if it solves the problem. The next step would be the valve body.

ok sounds good thanks, im new to transmissions ive never encounterd problems with one and im on my own so sorry if im a little clueless haha, so where is the valve body located?

It's on the bottom of the transmission. You will see it when you remove the pan. The transmission section has a sticky thread called the 5R55E valve body rebuild diary which is loaded with useful information. I suggest that you take a look at this thread before working on the valve body.

ok cool sounds good, i just got my ex in the garage an jacked up im removing the pan tonight to try and check things out

got the pan and filter off, well the filter was so clogged no oil was even flowing through it so hopefully that was the problem

Make sure that there is a magnet in the bottom of the pan. It's a good time to add a drain plug.

95 explorer

when i put mine in 1st gear or drive it makes a loud clicking sound i have to use 2nd gear to take off then put it in drive at about 25 or 30 mph will not go in drive it will click and not move trys to but will not go im thinking band broke not sure any one know why

i cleaned the magnet and replaced the filter, oh well to late for that its already reassemled but how much fluid do i need to put back into the trans?

Do you have a 2WD or a 4WD?