2002 Explorer Trans Question

[Diabolic]

My mom has a 2002 Exploer with the 4.6 V8. It has had the transmossion replaced by Ford 2 times under warranty for the converter shudding, and finally complete failure. Over the Christmas Holiday the trans went out again and wouldn't move. It was out of warranty so she took it to the local transmission guy that came highly reccomended from her regular maintenance mechanic. The transmission was rebuilt the first time, and failed again in 2 weeks. Then a reman was ordered from Ford along with a new converter and shift solenoids??? Something electronic anyway. The tranmission completely failed again within a month. It's breaking the bands right in half. Last week it did the exact same thing and one of the bands are broke clean in half! WTF? That's 1 rebuild and 2 Ford rebuilds all in 5 months! They all suffer from the same failure. Is it possible that the ECM has been corrupted and the line pressure is too high or something? Can Ford reflash the ecm to clear out all the existing info that may be corrupt and reboot with a known good file?

[Diabolic]

I was incorrect about this latest failure. It did not completely fail but started to get stuck in drive and 1st gear. I wouldn't upshift at 3/4 throttle until the gas pedal was released. It also started to shudder on the shifts. This is what it did the first time it failed. The latest transmission is also a Ford rebuild but the trans guy installed a Trans-Go shift kit. It has all new electronics, EPC solenoid, and valvebody. This means the Servo bores should be good. The fact that it holds 1-2 and D-OD shift indicated the OD band is playing a role.

[greenbullitt]

I cant offer much on the failures myself, but can try to point you to a very reputable builer that coul probably help shed light on the situation

[BP]

Are you sure they aren't installing the wrong version of the trans? A V8 should be a 5R55S, if they are putting Es in it could be the problem.

[Diabolic]

They told me it was a 5R55W.

[BP]

They told me it was a 5R55W.

Depends on the production date, after 3/4/02 it should be an S. People screw that up all the time. If that's not it then I bet Ford's supplier is having lots of problems with a particular batch of transmissions and you ended up getting a couple of them.

I'm sure the servo bores are probably good, that's the first thing reman companies do to these. Smaller transmission shops might not but an OE supplier will.

Also note that just because you bought it from a Ford dealer, doesn't mean it's a Ford reman. Look for the serial# and part number on the trans, if it doesn't look like factory numbering then someone else built it.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

Take it back to the ford house and tell them they fixed it a million times under warranty and its still doing the exact same thing. They have to warranty their work as well. Raise a big stink and I'll bet you can get it done again. Then if it fails again, find that same guy (who is going to remember you cause you raised a stink) and tell him it failed yet again and raise another stink. Eventually they'll get tired of you coming in there and they'll find out what the problem is.

[greenbullitt]

Take it back to the ford house and tell them they fixed it a million times under warranty and its still doing the exact same thing. They have to warranty their work as well. Raise a big stink and I'll bet you can get it done again. Then if it fails again, find that same guy (who is going to remember you cause you raised a stink) and tell him it failed yet again and raise another stink. Eventually they'll get tired of you coming in there and they'll find out what the problem is.

ford wont warranty it if someone else has built it since...why would they?

[SMEGMA STENCH]

Guess I misread. I was thinking the ford house had done it all or something.