Successful Automatic Transmission swap!!

k0ry1 · #1 02-06-2016, 06:16 PM

This weekend I finished what was a 5-day transmission replacement job. I have a full time job and Ive never done this before, so it took a while.
I was successful, and the total amount spent was about $320. I saved a ton of money not by switching to geico but by going and getting a used transmission out of one of those auto-dismantling places.

I KNOW this could be useful information to other drivers out there who are having problems with their trannys. So heres the story:

About 9 months ago I had to make a trip from SoCal, where I live, to the high desert, and the route takes you through the Cajon(thats kah-hone) pass via the 15 freeway. Its mostly an incline, and my 4 cylinder engine doesnt do as well as i wish it could.

Halfway up the pass my acceleration died at about 55mph and once you reached that speed, it would just bog up and down like the little engine that could, just not right now. I assumed my transmission just needed more fluid.

NOTE: NEVER ASSUME YOUR TRANSMISSION NEEDS MORE FLUID.

I pulled over and put 1 and 1/2 quarts in it once i got to my buddies house.

On the way home, my truck continued to do the same thing as it was doing before. The brand new fluid didnt fix it like i thought it would. I couldnt go more than 55, and a few moments later i couldnt even get it out of 3rd. So once i got home i looked under and it was obvious that there was too much fluid due to the numerous leaks around the pan. and on the ground.
my OD light was also flashing.

I looked at the dipstick and that **** was wayyyyy past the crosshatch lines. so for a week i would stop at random places and let trans fluid out after loosening the pan, then try to drive again. I did this maybe 10 times and still i was limited to 3rd gear, 55mph tops. ALSO, the only way it would shift into third was if i accelerated hard enough from a stop to get to about 20 mph, let go of the gas pedal completely, THEN it would shift into 3rd. i would also have to be careful not to accelerate too fast in 3rd or it would slip.

I drove under those circumstances for the next 8 months.

On my way to work a couple weeks ago I was doing my normal driving routine with my performance transmission when i heard sort of a "pshheewwww" sound, kinda like a bunch of air being released from a small compressed area. I had a feeling that was the sound of 3rd gear dying, and i was right.

i could only go about 25mph after that, high RPMs, and a lot of other pissed off drivers around me.

so those were my circumstances that led up to this:

I had to fix my transmission.
I know that rebuilds are technical and I didnt want to try it on my own and fail.
They cost more than a grand.
or i could find one at pick-a-part and hope it works, after hopefully replacing it correctly.

I was at pick a part, the selection of rangers was scarce, and there was no transmissions that matched mine.
i did some research and concluded that i had a 5R44E transmission. while there are also variants like 5r55e, and 4r###, and so on, they are used on ford explorers as well. i searched through the graveyard of explorers they had and under a 2000 V6 ford explorer 2x4 was a transmission that looked exactly like mine, i started removing it, finally got it out, and couldnt figure out how to get the torque converter off.
somehow i missed those 4 bolts, idk i was tired, give me a break.

i left without the torque converter and $260 poorer.
i bought a transmission jack from harbor freight but on a gift card so technically that was free.
i also bought the online repair subscription from alldatadiy.com for my truck, i think it was 25 bucks.

i removed my old transmission. compared it to my old one and i noticed that i could freely spin my old transmissions shaft both ways and it would do it with hardly any resistance.

the one off the explorer was harder to spin, even in neutral. i hoped this was a good thing.

the pan off my old transmission contained a few 1/4" nuggets of metal, metal "sand" and grayish red fluid.

the pan off the new (but older) trans had brownish red fluid, and had already been drained i guess.

the bell housings did not match, but they definitely looked interchangeable, and they were. so i swapped my old one over to the new case. REUSED THE OLD GASKET. i put new o-rings on the bolts between those two pieces. also, theres a plastic colored gasket thats right on the bearing thats attached to the bell housing. it was WHITE on my old trans, and RED on the new trans. i ended up using the RED one after trying the white one, ill get to that later.

i used my old torque converter, i have no idea what to look for to know if its bad, so, good to me.

it took me a while to get the converter all the way into its socket, this is why i ended up using the red plastic gasket. after i swapped that in, the torque converter sat all the way in.

it slid onto the back of the engine okay, and i continued the re-assembly of the other parts of the car. once i got to the electrical, i realized the transmission i got out of the explorer was missing the Intermediate Shaft Speed Sensor. I decided to ignore it, and currently there is a connector that dangles freely on top of my transmission.

once everthing was assembled, i put 3 quarts of fluid inside the trans.
(the pan for the new transmission was cleaned and i put in a new fluid filter)
this is when i realized that i was using the old dipstick and dipstick tube for the new trans.

i have no idea if they are interchangeable, but it still freaks me out cause i have no way of knowing if the dipstick is accurate anymore.

my battery had some how died, so with a jump my truck finally started.
went through all gears and none engaged.

i put one more quart in.
went through all gears. still none engaged.
selected to 1st gear, pressed the gas a tiny bit and it HIT into first.

checked the fluid, dipstick was dry
put one more quart in (thats 5 now)
went through all the gears, with no gas pedal, none engaged.
( i had already told my co worker not to get me cause my truck was finished)
i had to get the **** to work and i needed this to work.
shifted to Reverse, gave it a little gas and i started to backup, off the ramps and out of the garage.

my mom came out and we were like hell yeah woooooo

i forgot to mention that i also had no reverse after overfilling my old transmission 9 months earlier. so reverse was a big deal.

i put it into drive and it started PUTTING forward, but the pcm was still young.

i parked a half mile after leaving my house, put one more quart in.

it started driving good, but 1st to 2nd still HIT

1/2 quart later it didnt hit anymore, and i now have what i think is a 5r55e transmission in my truck and i can now drive 70 on the freeway again.

i hope this helps if you decide to take the same route i did in your Automatic transmission repair/replace. i saved a lot of money and thats honestly all i cared about. thanks for reading.

sheltonfilms · #2 02-06-2016, 10:30 PM

Congrats of poppin your tranny swap cherry!

The ISS was added in 2001.

You getting a check engine light? P0791 or P0794?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=157488

GSF1200S · #3 02-07-2016, 01:14 PM

Good on you for ingenuity, but I have to say one thing concerned me:

You never mentioned draining and flushing the converter, cooler, and lines! If this is not done, all the crap you saw in the pan of your old trans is circulating through the tranny you have now, and its destroying it very quickly. It might already be too late if you didnt do this!

Did you just leave this info out?

Tyler46 · #4 02-07-2016, 01:41 PM

Also Jay, remember we don't have an aux air cooler on the 4 bangers, but the question still remains whether the lines to the radiator were flushed properly.

My opinion, don't drive that truck another mile unless it's to Firestone and have a FULL system flush. 165 bucks is a small price to pay.

sheltonfilms · #5 02-07-2016, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSF1200S

Good on you for ingenuity, but I have to say one thing concerned me:

You never mentioned draining and flushing the converter, cooler, and lines! If this is not done, all the crap you saw in the pan of your old trans is circulating through the tranny you have now, and its destroying it very quickly. It might already be too late if you didnt do this!

Did you just leave this info out?

I remember when I rebuilt mine, I replaced the TC with a new one. Figured if I was gonna spend all that time pulling it and rebuilding it might as well.

I remember blowing the lines out with compressed air.

To the OP,

Don't take our comments as dogging you. We just want to make sure you don't have any issues. Its good to see people taking repairs into their own hands.

GSF1200S · #6 02-07-2016, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler46

Also Jay, remember we don't have an aux air cooler on the 4 bangers, but the question still remains whether the lines to the radiator were flushed properly.

My opinion, don't drive that truck another mile unless it's to Firestone and have a FULL system flush. 165 bucks is a small price to pay.

Yeah, I worded this poorly- you right. I should have been more clear- I have an automatic radiator on mine after all (all you can get aftermarket unless you pay $480 for a manual one at the dealer). Just IMO, but if I had a tow with insurance, id have it TOWED somewhere to have it flushed. Maybe im being a bit anal tho- ive been accused of that before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheltonfilms

I remember when I rebuilt mine, I replaced the TC with a new one. Figured if I was gonna spend all that time pulling it and rebuilding it might as well.

I remember blowing the lines out with compressed air.

To the OP,

Don't take our comments as dogging you. We just want to make sure you don't have any issues. Its good to see people taking repairs into their own hands.

+1- we arent at all talking down to you. If my post above came out that way, my bad. It would just really suck to have to do all that work again because of stupid contaminated lines/rad cooler! I hate it when little crap like that gets me- Ive had it happen, though fortunately not with a trans yet.

Fordzilla80 · #7 02-07-2016, 04:50 PM

Last I heard, 4.0 transmissions don't bolt up to 4 cylinder engines, and no Explorer came with a four cylinder so I'm intrigued with how this thing bolted up to the 4 cylinder.

bigfisher · #8 02-07-2016, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordzilla80

Last I heard, 4.0 transmissions don't bolt up to 4 cylinder engines, and no Explorer came with a four cylinder so I'm intrigued with how this thing bolted up to the 4 cylinder.

Swap bell housings. Me and a buddy put s 4.0 trans on his 3.0.

Fordzilla80 · #9 02-07-2016, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfisher

Swap bell housings. Me and a buddy put s 4.0 trans on his 3.0.

I completely missed the part where he said he swapped bellhousings. lol. Oops.

halo71 · #10 02-07-2016, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfisher

Swap bell housings. Me and a buddy put s 4.0 trans on his 3.0.

What about doing that with 4x4 trans?

bigfisher · #11 02-07-2016, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halo71

What about doing that with 4x4 trans?

If they're both 4x4 then swap the bellhousings.
Personally I would put the correct transmission in my vehicle.

sheltonfilms · #12 02-07-2016, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halo71

What about doing that with 4x4 trans?

have to sway tail housings and output shafts.

Have to tear tranny down to swap output shafts.

NoPower · #13 02-08-2016, 05:49 PM

I would have put a new torq. converter in it. I hope it don't bite you in the bum for useing your old one. If you seen a lot of metal in your old pan, you can be sure it's in the old converter. You may have sort-n the life of your new tranny. And did you flush out your old lines and rad, coolier tank and or tranny coolier?