New Member with an 04 LS V8

[Zack Jaycox]

Hi guys I’m new to the group and I have a couple questions. I got my 04 LS with 205,000 miles With some hard shifting. It will rev up until I let off to shift into 2nd, and it sometimes shifts hard into 3rd, and no overdrive. Now I’ve heard solenoids May be bad, or the servos can be bad. I’m just unsure what to do kinda. I daily it still and it’s been driveable for almost a year. It’s a great car, runs great and quiet but the tranny just needs to be fixed. If you need to ask questions about what it’s doing go ahead I’ll be on the thread to solve this problem. Thank you and happy holidays!

 

[Zack Jaycox]

A

View attachment 828571093 Hi guys I’m new to the group and I have a couple questions. I got my 04 LS with 205,000 miles With some hard shifting. It will rev up until I let off to shift into 2nd, and it sometimes shifts hard into 3rd, and no overdrive. Now I’ve heard solenoids May be bad, or the servos can be bad. I’m just unsure what to do kinda. I daily it still and it’s been driveable for almost a year. It’s a great car, runs great and quiet but the tranny just needs to be fixed. If you need to ask questions about what it’s doing go ahead I’ll be on the thread to solve this problem. Thank you and happy holidays!

also it sometimes jerks into reverse when shifting into gear

 

[Andrizzle]

Yea the solenoid assembly is likely needing replaced and the transmission valve body needs rebuilt.

I have been driving mine with the same transmission problems for years. I finally replaced the solenoid assembly and that solved the bottom gears shifting for most part, except it will still occasionally have a difficult shift into 4th. But it solved the banging of gears.

Mine is a 2004 with around 180K miles.

 

[joegr]

This may or may not have started out as just a solenoid assembly problem. After a year of driving like that, your clutches are probably gone too. You may be looking at a full rebuild.

 

[AmsterDutch]

A

also it sometimes jerks into reverse when shifting into gear

Have you checked your transmission fluid color? If the overdrive is out I’m going to have to agree with Joegr on this one and say I’m leaning towards a full transmission rebuild...what you could do for a band aid is drain a quart of fluid and replace with a quart of Lucas transmission fix Fluid it may add a thicker lubricant to allow the torque converter to function better...but if the color is black or darkish brown and it smells like death burnt and then death burnt again you’re unfortunately looking at a rebuild...but if the engine is still quiet and the car’s suspension is holding up ...and you know what is in her I say go for the $1500 dollar rebuild and get another 100,000 miles out of her...but the only way you will truly know is going to a shop ( NOT AMMCO ) that has a proper scan tool that can read live data of the transmission...Its hard for me to believe your torque converter is locking if the over drive went out

 

[Zack Jaycox]

I haven’t checked the fluid, I will start by draining some and adding Lucas oil like you said. I have my doubts about it being as bad as I think it is, because it will rather take a while for it to shift into 2nd, or it will shift if I give it enough gas to get it rolling at 2-2.5k rpms, I let off and then it shifts rather “fine”. It doesn’t slam it just jerks. It isn’t gotten any worse it’s just been consistent. Another thing, when usin Slap Shift mode it doesn’t have 3rd, you have to shift again to get into 4th, but that’s it. No 5th/over drive and i can do 70mph at about 3500 rpms. Any more info would be greatly appreciated

 

[rollingsolo]

My 04' has a little over 70k miles with similar symptoms. Yes I did say 70k miles. I had trans flushed at Ford dealer and it helped for a bit but now it jerks going into reverse when it warms up.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

As Joegr has said elsewhere on this forum, the 2004 LS's had issues with the transmission solenoid packs.

Milage may vary as to when the quirks show up. Mine went at 134k miles. No problems since the swap... now at 214k.

 

[rgorke]

I as well have an '04 V8 but mine is white!!! My transmission is also having some "shift issues" as described in the "Transmission Solenoid Question" thread.

I have been binge watching YouTube videos on the 5R55S transmissions and their problems and potential fixes, e.g. solenoid replacement, IM and OD Servo bore issues (steel servo piston rod rubbing on the aluminum case) which also causes "band" issues, there are also valve body issues that I am not that clear on.

I am going to be changing the solenoid in the coming week or so. I don't have any codes just some periodic hard shifting.