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5R55E auto trans won't downshift to 1st gear on 2000 Explorer 2wd

Good Evening,

I found an earlier post (2004) on this topic but no clear solution.

Any ideas on why my auto trans won't downshift to 1st gear when manually placed into 1st gear? It will limit itself to first gear only when accelerating in 1st gear but it won't allow engine breaking to decelerate on decents. It seams like it is in neutral when no gas is applied, allow it to coast and even pick speed on a steep decent. 2nd gear functionality works fine including engine braking.

I have experimented with it enough to know that it is a real problem, and not related to high-speed shifting in to 1st.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Reply to
pspongetti
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Here's the answer I posted previously. I should have included "5R55E" so you could find it...

That is a known problem caused by a gasket in the valve body blowing out. It's fixed by replacing a plate in the valve body with a new one which now has the gasket permanently bonded to the plate. They recommend replacing a failure-prone solenoid while you're at it.

Here's some great info on this problem from "Serious Explorations":

TSB 03-22-10...

FORD: 1995-2001 EXPLORER

ISSUE: Some vehicles built prior to 12/1/2001 may exhibit the following shift and engagement conditions:

No 2nd Gear No 3rd Gear No Engine Braking In Manual 1st. Out of specification pressures controlled by the transmission main control valve body separator plate may be the cause.

ACTION: Verify the condition, the main control valve body separator plate may need to be updated to the latest level. Refer to the following Service Procedure for details.

See the whole article, be sure to read the stuff way down at the bottom:

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Reply to
Paul G.

Thanks for directling me to your earlier posting. I have yet to meet another Paul that was not a nice guy!

I have never worked on a trans before so I may follow up with a trans shop or dealer, if the cost is reasonable.

Does anyone know if there are any risks if I continue to operate the truck with this condition? In normal driving the trans works fine. It's rare that I manually shift into first. T

Reply to
pspongetti

I believe this is not going to be real expensive to repair, I'm pretty sure they can remove the valve body and fix it without removing the transmission and the parts are not expensive. I think it's a drop-the- pan operation.

I'm not a transmission expert, but I think you can continue to drive it with those symptoms. The gasket can blow out in other spots and cause more severe symptoms like slipping shifts in higher gears, which can do some damage, though. I'd suggest getting it fixed as soon as possible as transmission failure IS expensive.

You might print some of that out, it will help a lot to steer the repair shop in the right direction. If you're lucky they'll know all about it- "Oh yeah, that TSB. We do a lot of those." If they say you need a new transmission, look elsewhere.

As to being a nice guy- sure, just keep me on technical stuff and off politics and religion... ;-))

-Paul

Reply to
Paul G.

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