Shift ? for 95XLT with 4R55E Tranny

[itzbinnice]

My 95 XLT has 70K original miles, bought the vehicle used in 1998 with 30K miles. I live in the North East with winter temps frequently dropping below freezing.

For the past 3 winters I have noticed the tranny will not shift from 2nd to 3rd gear until the vehicle was driven for some time and the temp gauge would move to about the 1/4 mark. It would hit 40 mph and rpm was at about 2100.
When warmed, at 40 MPH, it would shift and stay at the 1500 to 1600 mark when hitting 3rd. Other than the winter months, the tranny always shifted fine.

Recently the OD light came on and I tried re-setting 3 times and always came back. Brought it to a reputable Tranny shop, 2nd gear band was shot and had a rebuild done. He told me he would be installing a shift kit and down shifting may be a bit harder. He was right, it bangs going from 2nd to 1st. I called him and I will be bringing it in on Saturday where he will drop the pan and make some sort of adjustment to the shift kit spring.

Now the real problem, it still has the same symptoms of high RPM (2100) and not shifting from 2nd to 3rd until warm. I discussed this with the mechanic and I will be dropping the car off Friday night and let it sit overnight, then I will meet him in the morning and we will road test when completely cold.
Furthermore the temperatures has been rather mild lately, 40 to 45 degrees and it still behaves this way.

Reading the owners manual, it does not give specific shift times and RPM, it did say:
"For Example, you may notice that the transmission will upshift to a higher gear to a higher gear more quickly when the vehicle has not reached normal operating temperature"

This is just the opposite of how mine behaves. I discussed this with the mechanic and he said the outside ambient temp has nothing to do with the shifting, but rather the tranny temp itself. I disagree with him, I would assume if the outside temp is 50 degrees the tranny would warm up far faster than if it was 32 degrees. I am thinking perhaps it was, and still is, a defective Throttle Position sensor or Engine Speed Sensor that is causing it to behave this way. I'm concerned because I don't want this to damage my newly rebuilt trans. I'm wondering also if it could be a defective Powertrain Control Module.

The mechanic appears to stand behind his work and will check codes after our road test on Saturday. Can somebody please advise how their 95 XLT shifts from 2nd to 3rd in cold weather. Also I'd appreciate any input for suggestions of why it is behaving this way, as well as the mechanics statement about ambient temp having no effect on shifting.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[itzbinnice]

Bump
Any opinions please.

 

[davidmmm69]

have a 95 xlt 2 wheel drive that i started driving again sunday because my wifes windstar transmission has some problems. but she has my 2002 exoplorer to drive now so i get the beast yes the 95..
we just mved from florida to mass and the 95 with somewhere close to 150000 miiles on it shifts perfect still.
even with the massive change in the weather never had it changed fluid or filter. since i owned it 3 years ago,
still running strong and actually this in now my 3rd vehicle and I think i convinced my wife to let me keep it as a 3rd vehicle to be safe just in case something happened to the otehr 2,

it is 2 wd and had 31"bfg KO'S on it and my plan is to add either body lift or spindles to get a few more out of it and go with at least 33's maybe 35's/


anyway again no my transmission in my 95xlt is shifting perfect in the winter up here.

 

[Glacier991]

There is a strategy used in the PCM's on some models of FORD products which causes the PCM to inhibit up shifting (e.g to a higher gear - like 2-3 or 3-4 until the transmission temps have reached a certain temperature. Higher RPMS in lower gears equate to more internal transmission heating from the TCC (prior to TCC lockup) and hence the strategy. I do not know what the "magic" temp is, so that's about all the help I can offer.

 

[itzbinnice]

Thank you both for your replies. Today was a warm day, when I started it this morning it was 53 degrees. At this temperature it began shifting properly within a mile.
I'm concerned cause I don't want to burn 2nd gear out again.

davidmmm69
mine is 4wd but I doubt that makes a difference, temps from your state and mine quite similar so if your shifts normally so should mine.

Glacier991
'There is a strategy used in the PCM's on some models of FORD products which causes the PCM to inhibit up shifting (e.g to a higher gear - like 2-3 or 3-4 until the transmission temps have reached a certain temperature."

You may be on to something there since it begins to shift correctly when the temp gauge is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the normal operating temp.
When the needle is buried in the south it just takes forever to shift, I think this is wasting gas due to the higher RPM. I'll know more tomorrow when the mechanic test drives it when it's dead cold from sitting overnight. They predict cold temps for the morning so he can get a true picture of what I'm talking about.

 

[dbscanlan]

Have you had any luck finding out what this tranmission problem is? I'm having a similar problem.

 

[itzbinnice]

Nope, after a complete rebuild and using for 3 months now, it still behaves the same, it needs to warm up before shifting correctly. The warmer the outside ambient temperature, the less time it takes to properly shift.
I even changed the thermostat computer sensor (not water temp sensor)
and has not made a bit of difference. Mechanic says he has seen some that always shift normally and others that need to warm up, big help that was.

I guess I'll just live with it, warm weather coming soon and it will behave normally for the next 7 months.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Itz, the 5R55E (and I assume the 4R), has a thermostat in the transmission valve body that enables the fluid to warm up quickly. There's a Superior shift kit available that has an override spool that's installed to make the thermostat inoperable, and allow fluid flow through the cooler immediately upon startup.

The shift problems when cold may be tied to the trans thermostat inhibiting fluid flow, rather than the actual temperature of the fluid. I'm not saying this is the case, just throwing out more information.

I can't imagine the thermostat override spool being included in the kit, unless the trans thermostat was indeed trouble-prone.....???

 

[itzbinnice]

Runnin'ONEmpty,
Very interesting about the thermostat in the valve body.
My tranny is the 4R and the mechanic did in fact put a shift kit in.
When I got it back it was banging from downshift from 3rd to 2nd.
He told me to drive for 500 miles to see if it improves, it did not.
He dropped the pan, pulled out the valve body and trimned a spring, that solved the downshift bang. He is well aware of my complaint about taking a while to warm up and shift properly. My problem is when I get out of work at 5:00 PM, it is only 1/4 mile to the parkway entrance. If I let it warm up it takes an additional 10 minutes plus warmup time to get home because everybody is jumping on the parkway. When I get on the parkway the engine is reving since it has not reached TCL.

I will speak with the mechanic but I'm sure he will say my transmission doesn't have that thermostat. I won't mention anything about the 5R transmission since the obvious answer will be , oh yes that transmission has it but the 4R does not. I'll play stupid (not hard for me) and see what he says.