Tranny: Valve Body

[tyler_lueken]

I ran into the "no 4th gear" problem. My 2001 LS was acting up, and I knew it was associated with the transmission. 2 days later, the car wouldn't shift into 3rd, or so I thought. The car starts in second gear, correct? So, when I was thinking it wouldn't shift to 3rd, it would really be 4th. Correct?

Anyways, I read up on the forums, love you guys by the way, and came across a few threads on the solenoid. I took it to a local shop where my step dad gets a "discount", and asked them to inspect the problem, and give special attention to the solenoid. The shop head agreed with me, and all of you, that the solenoid could very well be the problem. So he replaced it, $400, and it still didn't work.

Now he is telling me that it is something internal and we have to rebuild it, $1800. I told him, "Look, I'm 20 years old. Yea, I have the money, but I just bought a house, and I can't just throw that out the window." He told me he understood, and he offered to buy the car for $1200. I told him I would sleep on it...

PRE-STROKE SPRING!!! I strongly believe this is my problem. Every time I read about it, my car has similar symptoms, and I don't even think the guy looked at it. He must not have Google, LVC.com, or anything other than basic shop education. Or he is trying to rob me blind. I am just looking for some more input, and a second, third, fourth, etc, opinion before I call this dude out tomorrow and request it be fixed free of charge.

So, what do you guys think? Check Transmission Message, E on the gear indicator, cruising through town at 35 mph, at 3000rpm, everything else works fine, but it won't shift into 4th. The shop head even told me he could manually shift from 3rd to 5th, but he couldn't tap into 4th.

 

[Kumba]

I ran into the "no 4th gear" problem. My 2001 LS was acting up, and I knew it was associated with the transmission. 2 days later, the car wouldn't shift into 3rd, or so I thought. The car starts in second gear, correct? So, when I was thinking it wouldn't shift to 3rd, it would really be 4th. Correct?

Anyways, I read up on the forums, love you guys by the way, and came across a few threads on the solenoid. I took it to a local shop where my step dad gets a "discount", and asked them to inspect the problem, and give special attention to the solenoid. The shop head agreed with me, and all of you, that the solenoid could very well be the problem. So he replaced it, $400, and it still didn't work.

Now he is telling me that it is something internal and we have to rebuild it, $1800. I told him, "Look, I'm 20 years old. Yea, I have the money, but I just bought a house, and I can't just throw that out the window." He told me he understood, and he offered to buy the car for $1200. I told him I would sleep on it...

PRE-STROKE SPRING!!! I strongly believe this is my problem. Every time I read about it, my car has similar symptoms, and I don't even think the guy looked at it. He must not have Google, LVC.com, or anything other than basic shop education. Or he is trying to rob me blind. I am just looking for some more input, and a second, third, fourth, etc, opinion before I call this dude out tomorrow and request it be fixed free of charge.

So, what do you guys think? Check Transmission Message, E on the gear indicator, cruising through town at 35 mph, at 3000rpm, everything else works fine, but it won't shift into 4th. The shop head even told me he could manually shift from 3rd to 5th, but he couldn't tap into 4th.

Take it to a Ford dealer. They've seen hundreds of these problems. For whatever a diagnoses fee is ($10-15 here), they'll gladly tell you what they think it is.

 

[oddball]

If that shop doesn't work on 5r55n's often (and they probably don't, it wasn't fielded all that much), then he may just be unaware. Plus working at a shop, he's not gonna spend hours digging through threads trying to solve the problem. Solenoid is a common cause, so makes sense to try. If that doesn't work, he can be certain that a rebuild would. So worst case, you're running, but out some cash.

Dropping the valve body isn't a hard job, just not as easy as, say, getting gas. I'd say drop it and take a look at that spring yourself. If that's it, then $6 (plus fluid) and you're done!

 

[tyler_lueken]

The shop will take out the valve body and inspect it for free, not only because of the business relationship them and my step-dad have, but to cover their ass, and try to maintain their reputation amongst the other repair shops in town. I didn't even ask if they have the diagnostic tool, or if they pulled any codes.

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Get a replacement valvebody, they are cheap. Swap it out, and do a shift kit in it if you have time.