My 1996 Explorer with a 4R55E has no gears.

[Alsmarineparts]

trans trouble

Well dropped the pan all clean checkes solenoids 1 had no ohms so I changed all. New filter new oil drain plug installed shifts like a dream 205,000 miles and still strong
ford
First
On
Race
Day

Thanks guys.

 

[raven2k7]

hi everyone, am new here. i just wanna say that i have also a similar problem. i have a ford explorer 1996 XL 2WD 4.0L V6. i think it uses a 4R44E/4R55E transmission. the problem i have is that one day i was driving and the car just stoped. then it would only take reverse , no forward gears. i payed to get it towed home. then i let a friend drain the transmission fluid and it was black. i think it could of been mixing up with the coolant cause the coolant was looking weird too. but anyways , i changed the transmission fluid and the trans filter and still only getting reverse. i dont hear the shift noise anymore when i change gears. i only hear it when i put it in verse. at certain times it actually took drives , but for the most , the forward gears are gone. what should i do ? buy a valve body to do a full rebuild ?

 

[D'mechanic]

Im still having problem on my newly rebuilt transmission now everything works fine except for the drive if it came from 2 going to drive works fine but if came from park going in to drive nothing happens even if you step on the accelerator pedal hard, we check for pressure and its in the specified range, does any one have encountered this kind of problem and whats the cure for it

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the valve body gasket, and the torque of the valve body bolts.

 

[D'mechanic]

does a new gasket might have a defect on it and we follow the torque and torque sequence according to atsg manual but we are using a ft-lb torque wrench which says in-lb in the manual but we dont have one so we just convert the in-lb to ft-lb, by doing this does it have a effect on it or its just the same

 

[PopRichie77]

A ft lb torque wrench probably won't read correctly at 5 or 7 ft lbs. An inch pound wrench is needed to get the correct torque and should be torqued in at least 2 or 3 steps.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Get a 1/4" drive In/Lb torque wrench. Harbor Freight has an inexpensive one.

 

[D'mechanic]

Still having the same problem drive wont work unless it came from 2 if but coming from park going straight to drive nothing happens everything is in right torque and new gasket

 

[PopRichie77]

There are several things that can cause this. Did you have the separator plate off the valve body? if you did one of the L keepers may be missing or not installed correctly. Does it work in manual low and 2nd? does it work in Drive with OD turned off?

 

[D'mechanic]

@poprichie77, well since we acquired a atsg manual we totally tear the valve body apart to clean all the pistons as we we are removing it some are stuck coz the previous owner didnt know that it need to change the atf and when we remove the oil pan the oil smell burnt and the pan was full of sticky iron fillings so we totally rebuild the tranny(4r55e) and we noticed that most of the piston on the valve body have deep scratches after rebuild we still put in the original valve body and nothings responding so we decided to change the valve body with a brand new one(assembly new separator plate, gaskets and solenoids, and yes it works on manual low and 2nd but we havent tried turning off the O/D will try that on monday thanks poprichie

 

[D'mechanic]

and oh by the way we didnt re install the output shaft sleeve coz its made of plastic and its full of crack we are afraid that this one day will disintegrate inside the tranny and cause problems again and we cant get a new one from our supplier they said they doesnt have any available output shaft sleeve for even any model of tranny. Without these sleeve does it cause any problems in the operation of the tranny

 

[PopRichie77]

Valve bodies have to be taken apart very carefully, the L keepers put burrs on the bores and pushing the valves out will put deep scratches on them and ruin them. The burrs have to be removed first.
Without the output shaft sleeve there is probably way to much end play. You can't leave parts out and expect it to work correctly.
Also were you careful installing the clutch pistons as a scratch on the seal outer edge will cause it to leak, even if it works at first it will soon fail.

 

[D'mechanic]

when the new valve body arrive, the pistons are already inside plus with new solenoids and separator plate installed we just bolt it in the case

 

[PopRichie77]

Yes, just bolt it in, torque the bolts to the proper torque in at least 2 steps.

 

[D'mechanic]

yeah thats what we did but what can cause the drive not to work on a newly rebuilt tranny we have check everything but still nothing

 

[D'mechanic]

finally found the problem the new separator plate that come with the new valve body was defective we use the old one which is more greater condition now everything works smoothly no more porblems

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update! Did they give you a 5R55E separator plate instead of a 4R55E separator plate?

 

[PopRichie77]

As BrooklynBay said thanks for the update, i was concerned that you may have assembled something wrong, when you said that you left a part out. Also as BrooklynBay said what was wrong with the separator plate?

 

[D'mechanic]

the plate is for a 4r55e but its defective we dont know why or how, we compare at the old one and new one everything looks the same but the new one wont let the drive work but the old we have reface it so maybe the new plate is warp or some thing

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you use different valve body gaskets on both plates? It's possible that one of them was the wrong gasket.