Transmission Fun

[David Torres]

Just got off the line with Ford service guy and they said they ran the diagnostic tests on my '04 ST and that everything tests fine (there's nothing to fix). I discussed the common issues with the 5R55E tranny like blown seperator plates in the valve body, bad solenoids or possibly bad valve body itself and the flare issues it causes particularly between 2-3 gear. He actually told me that Ford fixed these issues with a re-designed valve body on the 2003 and up Explorers. That's good to know! So anyone with a 1-2 or 2-3 flare during gear upshifting you're just imagining it because Ford has already fixed the problem.



He said if I can make it happen again while driving with their Ford Master Tech in the truck between now and next 1500 miles when the warranty runs out they'll look into the problem further. Seeing as it's intermitent and only happens 1 or 2 times per week as I had told them they're basically saying it's my problem not theirs. Nice.



Sorry for the rant, just blowing off steam. :angry::angry::angry:

 

[EddieS'04]

I have an '04, and I have the 2-3 flair when cold, and when warm on light throttle. IMO they aint fixed it...

 

[Mark Grumpy]

David,

my 04 had a solenoid put in at 12,000 miles. I only took it in for the tranny additive recall and they went ahead and changed the EPC (?) solenoid at that time because they said they felt it and they were already aware of the problems with our trannys.



grump

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

David, the only time anything is going to show up on thier "Diagnostics" is when you have the "flashing O/D light of death". Other than that it is going to have to happen with one of them in the vehicle. The only other thing you can do is try the EPC adjustment and see if that helps.

 

[Jeffrey Travis]

DavidT - I am in the same boat and have less than 1 month to make it happen with their tech in the ST w/me. He would have to hang with me for a whole week. Wonder if he wants to commute with me, drive to my kid's baseball games, go to my baseball games (I am sure he would like to go for a cold one post-game), the usual Home Depot trip each weekend, etc, etc.



It would be nice if they (Ford, other dealers, et al) had some kind of diagnostic machine they could hook up to it for a whole week or so and it would gather information and then you could say - OK it happened Tuesday at 2:43pm and they could go in and get a reading at that point.



Am I crazy to think that in 2006 this kind of technology should exist? (or does it?) And I guess one telling more than what the OBDII offers.



JT#14

 

[Todd Z]

They do make that, The snap on scanner does that, You drive the vehicle and IT records everything. Then when it happens you have the data to show what went wrong...



The problem IS ford has upgraded the gaskets and stuff in the 03 and up ST's but they keep forgetting one thing, EPC PRESSURE!!!!!!

Todd Z

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Travis, Todd, what is the liklihood that our STs are actually recording the event of the harsh shift, and the service techs are conveniently "not checking" for those codes, or even worse, not admitting they are there?



TJR

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

TJR, that could be the problem. The techs nowadays are really poorly trained. It's bad when they are taught to get all thier info from the shop manuals and not use any intuition. I was a mechanic in the Army for 4 years and do you know when I would go and look in the manual for answers? Usually when I have exhausted every problem I thought it was and I couldn't figure it out. (which they taught us pretty well to think on our feet, so that was VERY seldom that we needed the manual to figure something out) When I got out I actually went to an acredited school for GM to be a licenced mechanic. I went for two semesters and I quit because for those two semesters all they were teaching me was HOW TO RIP PEOPLE OFF WHEN THEY BROUGHT THIER CAR IN TO BE REPAIRED OR INSPECTED. Seriously. I'm not that type of person, so I went to school to take X-Rays. I'm not surprised by how people get treated at dealerships. It's what they've been taught. I'm by no way saying that all are like that. I do know some really trustworthy automotive techs and that is who does the stuff for me when I can't get to it.

 

[Todd Z]

Yeah, basically what Stone said...

Todd Z

 

[Gavin Allan]

I just thought the flare was a "functionality" and not a defect...

 

[Marc Mulhern]

I just had my 03 checked over because of a slight 2-3 flare without any indicator lights coming on. Ford verified it and replaced the solenoids, I believe, I will have to look at the papers again. I have about 9 months left on the warranty...hope this doesn't happen again.



Marc