5r55e.....need opinions!

Hi all in sport trac land....I have a pickle on my hands! I have an 01' with the 5r55e tranny, who decided last week to start flashing the "OD/OFF" light whilst I was driving down the road. Well...before I looked on here...stupidly I might add....I took it to my local ford dealer who ran 80 bucks worth of tests to see what the deal was! They didnt find anything! 80 bucks up a wild horses ass! well anyway my problem is now that I think I know what the deal is...even though the tranny really isnt showing any prominent signs of failure...what course of action do I take? Should I just drive it till it poops? then fix it. or should I trade it on something else....(its almost paid for:angry Is there a simple fix for this ....or does this require a new transmission? If it does require a new transmission....what would be my best course of action considering money is tight and I dont want to get screwed by ford or a local trans shop doing the repairs...are there any aftermarket trannys that will work...or is there a good place I can get a rebuilt one for cheap?



Thanks for any help...

the flashing OD is an indicator that something is wrong in the tranny, the dealer says nothing wrong, find another local/independent shop for a 2nd opinion. Do a search for the flashing OD and you should find numerous posts about this for your education. If it comes down to a new tranny, consider the oem again as you can get a 100K mile transferable warranty for ~$3000, I did.

Since it is a 2001, The 01 tranny has an old design valve body gasket and solenoids.



IT can be $400-600 with labor to replace with updated gaskets and solinoids....



OR service the fluid and filter and drive it till it dies....



Todd Z

so if i do the 400-600 updated gaskets and solinoids....should that solve my problem just as long as i do it before it dies? or is it pretty much doomed and that is just delaying its destiny?

Find a good independent that knows this. If they are honest, you may save the trans and $$. Get it done soon, though.

Mine did the same thing and the only re-useable part of my tranny was outer case and the valve body..:angry:

You could just spring for one of these...

WOW.....that would be awesome...if i had 3 grand! lol



well i called AAMCO and am having them "diagnose" it today for 50 bucks...they said they have seen this with the sport tracs before...and said the valve body fix would run anywhere from 2 to 600 hundred bucks...so im going that route with my fingers crossed! thanks all ...and ill let ya know how it turns out!

beufort67,

The 5R55E is known for this problem. The light is supposed to signify when the transmission is slipping during shifts (shift flare). The 4 speed version had so many problems with slipping during shifts that they added sensors to check the speed of the gears in the transmission to determine if any gear was turning at the wrong speed. That did not fix the problem and many transmissions are too far gone before the O?D lights starts blinking.



The solenoids/valvebody are the cause of the problem and the infamous blinking O/D light, however there are many cases were the slippage causes excessive wear on the bands and clutches that requires a major rebuild.... So brace yourself.



...Rich

Get the valvebody replacement service Todd described, from a good independent shop you can trust (do some research if possible). It's $400-600 well spent. Had mine done two years ago this month after weeks of a 2-3 flare and a one-time O/D light incident (on the way to get the service done!). It works and is much better than the $2000+ for a new transmission.

I just pulled the trans. out of my 2001 this weekend and dropped it off to my buddys tranny shop Monday. He is going to do a complete rebuild including new solonoids and new converter for $900.00. He called me today and said other than the pan gasket it dosent look like the trans. has ever been opened, he said it didn't even have any updated or TSB parts installed and it made it to 140,000 miles. I guess I can't complain

watch out for that level 10 tranny, saw some unfavorable reviews for the shop.