blew new transmission

fudge12

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Hey all. I blew my transmission of two years old going to the beach. In drive the car does not move, in reverse the car does not move. But when I throw it in 3rd the car moves but am only able to top 30mph. Twice I was able to get it into sst and was able to shift through gears with a jerk in between shifting. Valve body or solenoid? I drove it 30 miles like this on highway topping 3-3.5rpm.
 
You definitely popped a hard part inside. Unfortunately, this is all the advice I can offer. Might check on the Explorer boards as some of them use the same trans and are more likely to be out abusing them by offroading their trucks. They're more likely to know what the deal is. Good luck with it.
 
Fudge, just for sh*t and giggles, have a look underneath the front engine shielding protective plastics <remove it to see>, did you possibly blow one of the lines off at the trans cooler up front? Its just a silly worm clamp holding them pressure lines on. I'd be betting on your right out of ATF on that.
 
Fudge, just for sh*t and giggles, have a look underneath the front engine shielding protective plastics <remove it to see>, did you possibly blow one of the lines off at the trans cooler up front? Its just a silly worm clamp holding them pressure lines on. I'd be betting on your right out of ATF on that.

The car moves in 3rd gear. Wouldn't do that if a line blew off.
 
Valid point, didn't think that one through enough. Servo cracked/damaged thus line pressure issues?
 
I'm sure the Trans has fluid since I'm able to move in 3rd gear, but I guess it's a possibility that I'm low on fluid. Now after doing some research, I'm getting confused as to what transmission I have. I'm reading on other sites that early production (1999-2000) v6 and v8 shared the same 5r55n tranny. If anyone can validate this I'd appreciate it, otherwise please tell me which one I have.


2000 v6 ls (automatic, built in Sept 1999)
 
2000-2002 model years have the 5R55N.
2003-2006 model years have the 5R55S.

V6 and V8 both use the same model transmission (5R55N in your case). While the internals are the same, the V6 and V8 transmissions have different housings. This is required as the mounting to the V6 is different than the mounting to the V8. Long story short, you need a 5R55N from a 2000 to 2002 V6 LS.

I was going to speculate on what might have broken, but there is no reason to do so. Whatever it is will require dissassembly of the transmission to repair anyway. I guess you could drop the pan and look for broken parts.
 
00 up to 02 is 5R55N
03 up to 05 is 5R55S

correct me if I'm wrong please.


EDIT: NVM, joe beat me to it.
 
I wish I Had. I'm out by two months :/ but regarding the 5r55n tranny on the v8, are the valve bodies and solenoid packs the same as those on the v6?

did you pay it on a credit card? sometimes you can check the terms on the CC bc they will occaisionally extend the warranty on work
 
Joe, is there any reason why the V8 trans wouldn't be able to go behind the V6? It would be just as easy to swap transmissions as to swap solenoids, IMO.
 
paid for it cash while i was working at a retail store for 7.50 an hour. tough times back then and would hate to relive it now. i'd also appreciate some speculation on what the fault might be before i drop the pan so i can know what and where to look at.

so it all happened when i was getting back on the highway after an emergency stop to check my power steering fluid. I lightly spun tires on the dirt to pick up with traffic before i merged back onto the road. Immediately after I merged onto the highway, I felt the rev limiter @7k RPM along with no power to the wheels at all. I immediately pulled back over and began to limp home in 3rd gear for about 1 1/2 hours topping at 3-3.5rpm. There are a few things worthy to note:

1) If i put the car into D5 or Reverse I can feel it engage but the car barely moves at all. I really have to give it gas before it does anything. Yes I said the car would not move in my first post, but the movement is not worthy enough to considered movement lol.


2) I have noticed the car did not want to shift on time before this happened. Sometimes I had to get off the gas momentarily and get back on it for it to downshift. I'll also get a harsh shift when downshifting this way. If I keep on the gas it either not shift or shift too late.

3) I did get the tranny to shift using sst mode.
 
No speculation as transmission innards aren't something I've ever dug into beyond replacing a solenoid pack or a valve body, but being just 2 months out of warranty it might still be worth calling the guy that did it. Since it failed hard so close to the end of the warranty he might be willing to cut you a break on it, like maybe fix it for the cost of parts. No guarantees though, and don't push if he won't since it is out of warranty, but you never know.
 
Fluid level????? I don't remember reading about the level.....
 
No speculation as transmission innards aren't something I've ever dug into beyond replacing a solenoid pack or a valve body, but being just 2 months out of warranty it might still be worth calling the guy that did it. Since it failed hard so close to the end of the warranty he might be willing to cut you a break on it, like maybe fix it for the cost of parts. No guarantees though, and don't push if he won't since it is out of warranty, but you never know.
good idea here; i would call the shop and not even mention the warranty, just purely act like you expect them to take care of it regardless. and if/when they bring up the warranty look over the warranty documents and then give em the 'really? just two months out of warranty?!' spiel...
 
Joe, is there any reason why the V8 trans wouldn't be able to go behind the V6? It would be just as easy to swap transmissions as to swap solenoids, IMO.
...
... While the internals are the same, the V6 and V8 transmissions have different housings. This is required as the mounting to the V6 is different than the mounting to the V8. Long story short, you need a 5R55N from a 2000 to 2002 V6 LS....
 
mine did almost the exact same thing, mine was the planetary failing. Metal bits went all through the trans. Likely needs entirely rebuilt...
 
i'm now resolving it by putting in a new transmission. The old one has no shavings in the pan which is a relief but the valvebody and solenoid pack is shot. I was noticing delayed and hard shifts between gears and I had to get off the gas and floor it to get it to shift. I'm planning to either part it out or replacing the valve body and solenoid pack from the v8 and keeping it as a spare. Thanks for the info guys.
 
So put the new tranny in and she runs like a beast. No more clunking into Park from drive, no more harsh reverse engagements etc... I'm loving it. But as with all things on the LS, i'm now having a new problem. I'm feeling a grinding on the gearstick only when I'm moving. It does not matter which gear i'm in. I want to say it's the driveshaft flexing around hitting surrounding metal as that is what it sounds and feels like. Just wanted to know if anyone has ever had this happen to them and if it's hard to replace it.
 
Interesting, because the gear shifter is only connected by cable and not a fixed lever so in theory you should never feel any trans grinding in the shifter. I would suggest getting back under the car and checking that all mounting bolts are tight. Also, put a jack under the tail housing and jack it up to check the rear mount. If the back of the trans moves easily in relation to the crossmember before you get any real lifting force against it the mount is bad, which will allow the trans to get against the tunnel, which will transmit vibration to the shifter.
 

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