Solenoid/Trans

[04_Sport_LS]

Either way... XFord's LS has 95k on the clock,,, so a tranny service wouldn't be unreasonable to do. Preventative maintenance is always a good thing.

 

[Hal]

2001 LS Tranny Pre-stroke valve spring replace:

I recently did an in-car replacement of the 5R55N pre-stroke valve spring on my 2001 LS and have a few tips to pass on to anybody who might still be thinking of doing it by himself.

1. In my case, the tranny mount had to come off to make room for the pan to come down.

2. Even with letting the tranny hang down in back, it’s nearly impossible to reach the bolt which secures the Solenoid Pack Connector. I used a hole saw to drill a 2.5” hole through the tunnel from inside the car and got access to the bolt through that hole with a 10mm ratcheting box end wrench. Here’s a photo of the hole:
You can find the right location by carefully drilling a small hole first and then using that small hole as the center for your hole saw. The small holes around the big hole are for pop rivets that I used to fasten a patch over the big hole when I was done. I used silicone caulk to seal the patch.

3. When you take off the Valve Body Cover Plate the Intermediate Clutch Spring will probably fall out of the Valve Body and roll away. It should remain stuck to its little rubber seal and just hang there but with years of use, its probably won’t. (I didn’t notice that mine had fallen out until I had everything “buttoned up” and found the spring on the garage floor.) The attached photo shows the underside of the valve body where it belongs.
A new Intermediate Clutch Spring and Seal from “A & Red’s Xmsn Parts” costs only a few dollars
This photo shows the new spring and seal.
The new seal will hold the new spring in place while you replace the Valve Body Cover Plate. While you’re at it, order a new gasket for the Cover Plate, it’s cheap.

4. Replacing the Pre-Stroke Valve was a piece of cake. The old one was really hammered. It was broken into four pieces, shown in the attached photo.
A new spring from Sonnax costs only a few bucks. I replaced the gaskets also.

5. You can fill the tranny without the special adapter tool which threads into the drain plug standpipe but it’s a bit of a mess. There is a fill plug high up on the back end of the tranny that comes out with an allen wrench. You can shoot Mercon V in there with a suction gun or you can thread a long length of Tygon into the fill hole, put a funnel on the other end and stand up while you pour Mercon into the funnel. Either way, fill the tranny until fluid runs out the drain stand pipe, then put the plug(s) back in and run it in place until the xmsn fluid is warm (the book says 130F), then take the plug(s) out and add more fluid until it runs out the stand pipe again. Then you should be good to go.

I drove gently for a couple of days to let the PCM relearn shift points. Now the tranny shifts smoothly and quickly, almost like new. This is a car with 215K miles.

 

[Telco]

Hal - what were your symptoms that caused you to do this?

 

[Hal]

Telco,
My car had registered an "E" transmission code and would not shift into 4th or 5th gear. The error code indicated a shift solenoid problem (I think it was P0734/5). I replaced the solenoid pack but that didn't fix anything. I then replaced the 4-3 pre-stroke control valve spring and that fixed it.
Hal

 

[Telco]

K thanks.. This is not my problem then.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

Lastly... I am desperatley waiting for a break from work,,, so I can do the same to my trans. Not wanting to hand pump multiple quarts of fluid,,, I purchased an Airtex E8016 12v fuel pump for the fluid transfer. 2.5-4.5 PSI @ .5 gpm. While not recommended for this application, I have been told that it will work for trans fluid.

Well,,,

I finally got/made the time. I wanted to do this much sooner than at 143k... but it is what it is. Surprisingly,,, the fluid that came out actually still looked pretty good and there wasn't much debris on the magnet. Thinking maybe a previous owner had already serviced the trans.

Sooo... a solenoid pack, gasket, and 8 quarts later,,, the LS is much better. Didn't need the new drain/fill plug I bought because the old one came apart smoothlly.

BTW... Symptoms were slightly high rpms before shifting under mild acceleration. A bit of shift delay/overlap between gears. Soft shifts,,, and the delayed, ("thud"), downshift to first gear at a stop. Actually,,, now the shifts seem to have a bit of snap to them,,, that I don't recall the car having since I have owned it

 

[04_Sport_LS]

There is a video that shows how they take the solenoid wiring harness off the car, but that video is being shot on a Ford Explorer with a much larger trans tunnel than the LS has. I tried doing that, but you have to have little girl hands to get up in there. I wound up drilling two holes with a 1 inch holesaw one beside the other in the trans tunnel which gave me direct access to the bolt on top of the plug. It also made it possible to get the plug back on the solenoid because there is no way I could have gotten that plug back on from underneath the car.

Yeah,,, it's definitely a tight squeeze trying to get the harness off the top of the solenoid. I don't know about needing little girl hands though. I ended up pulling the PRNDL, and the shift linkage and linkage bracket off the side of the tranny. This gave me enough room with a couple of fingers to get a 4" 12 point 10mm wrench on the bolt and break it loose. I then used a 2.5" stubby 1/4 drive ratchet with a short socket to get the bolt the rest of the way. It took some time and dexterity,,, but is possible from underneath. I normally wear large to x-large gloves.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

Not wanting to jump the gun,,, I held back on futher reviews. The weather has been cooler lately,,, and was wating to see how the tranny sevice improved things in warmer weather. I can now say without a doubt,,, that the delayed downshift 1st gear "thud" when coming a stop... is now gone. Hmm... seems that electromagnetic coils in a solenoid pack,,, will get waek after 100k miles... and that;s noting that the comnputer can compensate for.

 

[Bradley Webb]

There is also a fill port on the rear of the transmission, on the passenger side just over the transmission, if you don't want to buy that fill plug thing. You'll still need the plug in the bottom of the pan removed though as this is how you get the correct fluid level. Start the car, let it warm up, then open the port and let fluid run out. When the fluid stops draining and kinda spurts out the level is correct. When you take the pan off, you'll see that the plug is connected to a 2-3 inch tube which is why this works. I think it's an ingenious yet perverted way of checking the trans fluid level because it requires you to unsafely be under the car while it is both jacked up on all 4 tires yet running, and you know it's full of fluid when it stops draining, when all they really had to do was install a dip stick tube.

There is a video that shows how they take the solenoid wiring harness off the car, but that video is being shot on a Ford Explorer with a much larger trans tunnel than the LS has. I tried doing that, but you have to have little girl hands to get up in there. I wound up drilling two holes with a 1 inch holesaw one beside the other in the trans tunnel which gave me direct access to the bolt on top of the plug. It also made it possible to get the plug back on the solenoid because there is no way I could have gotten that plug back on from underneath the car.

New to posting...I saw the same video when I changed my solenoid pack. I have big hands and couldn’t get the bolt loose. I took a 10mm box end wrench and cut it where was about 1 1/4 inch at the box end. It made loosening and tightening the bolt much easier. It saved me a ton of time...especially when I had to take it out a second time...hope this helps.