Ford 5R55N Refuses to engage
 

Hello to all,

After reading almost all posts regarding the much troubled Ford 5R55N gearbox for my S-Type V8, I still haven't found what's wrong with mine. Here it goes:
A few months ago the gearbox started to perform badly, engaging into gears took sometimes a bit (too) long, the car lost much of its power, till the moment the car even didn't almost move anymore. Jaguar told me to replace the whole thing so I followed the much appreciated post on this forum on how to replace the valve storke springs etc and give a small refurb to the valve body. After replacing all springs with Sonnax ones, a new filter, seal and 10 liter of oil, this is what happens.

The oil inside the gearbox was in really bad condition, color was black. I however didn't check the oillevel upfront... slight mistake

Now, after reassembling the gearbox:
The car doesn't move at all. The only noise the gearbox makes is quick "Tik-a-Tik" after selecting D out of N, nothing else.

Does anyone knows exactly what the "main spring" does, the one that falls out when you lower the valve body? This is the only thing that could maybe mounted wrongly, since it hasn't been exactly explained in the DIY.
I put it in a hole under the gearbox, more or less towards the end, that could hold the spring for a while until I fitted the Valve Body.

I've put 10l of oil into the gearbox. The gearbox was opened for around 1-2 months, so I guess much oil came out in the meanwhile and 10l is maybe not enough. But can 1-2 liters of oilshortage lead to such a big impact?

If there is anyone out there who thinks or knows what the problem is, please let me know.

Greetings, Jos from Belgium.

Something I forgot to tell in previous post, before all this effort I read the car out with the OBDCOM scanner but no errorcodes came up. The gearbox didn't make any weird mechanical sounds as well.

Br, Jos

Jos,

I have no idea on that spring.

I am like others, in that these transmissions fail/play up/whatever, due to oil contamination from lack of service.

I found a 5R55N Technical Paper in my "library" of stuff, and it is 12.8mb, and toooo large to attach. I have browses thru it, but NOT studied it. The only auto trans I have ever had apart was an old BW65, and that was a looooong time ago.

PM me your email address, and I will send it to you.

Br Jos, Did you check that the trans. shift linkage will go threw all its throws without binding and is tight?

Thx for the effort, you can mail it to me at josvantbos99@yahoo.com
I'll have a look at it and hopefully I'll get a bit wiser.


Br, Jos

Done.

Enjoy

I found what the "main spring" exactly is and where it belongs:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...ine=1358790997

So I placed the spring in the correct place, however what I fear is the intermediate clutch seal... Can the removal of this seal lead to the problems I'm currently facing?
Such a small parts, such a big impact...

If the oil was black then I think you are wasting your time.

All the work you are doing is great if the transmission is still in fact good. The black indicates it was burned up by whoever was driving it.

You need to get the proper oil level before you can tell anything. So verify the oil level and then see how it acts. But the black fluid is telling you the insides of the transmission have eaten themselves.
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Thanks for the advice.
Maybe I exaggerated a bit on the color of the oil, it was more brown than black. The pan didn't contain any significant metal particles. What bothers me most is that the car drove before, and now doesn't move at all, so it makes me think I did something wrong.


Br, Jos

It not working after it is put together is not a good sign. Did you or someone else go into the trans?

OK. That sounds better because I have seen black transmission fluid before.

But as you know the fluid level is critical before you can do any troubleshooting.
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Iself gave it a try. I'll probably take it apart again this weekend, in order to check the main spring. Hopefully I still can order this seal, the seal I haven't seen, so it may still be in, or dropped out with noticing it.

Perhaps I should start looking at a 2ndhand one, costs are rising. I'm wondering if the trans can be switched easily as a whole. JTIS says it can be done without lifting the engine, but I'm not convinced since you have bolts at the top of the transmission, securing it to the engine.

Br

I was going to suggest that until I saw where you live. I don't know how easy or at what cost a used transmission would be in Belgium??

In the states I would have said have a shop fix it because that is a common Ford 5 speed used in millions of Fords. But I doubt the Fords it was installed were even sold in your country so that transmission might be more rare over there?
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Grant if you send it to me I'll also add it to the download library + any other stuff you might care to share.

Best of luck Jos, if you really can't fix it or source a replacement in Belgium then you should be able to from the UK.

You might also want to have a look at posts from member Avos, he is not S Type but is in your part of the world. He might know of a supplier.

In the UK I can find plenty of replacement gearboxes. Remaining question is if the gearbox can be detached from the engine without loosening the engine. If yes I'm willing to swap the gearbox, else it seems loads of work...

Br

Before tackling a gearboxswap, is there someone who can assure me that you can disassemble the gearbox from the engine? I can't figure out how to loosen the top bolts from the gearbox housing which attaches it to the engine....

Having had two auto boxes go in similar way, and fact you had already lost drive and the oil coming out was brown/black and I bet probably smell burnt, sounds like the damage may already be terminal. Regular oil changes are a must as far as I am concerned. Even on so called sealed for life units.

Give the box to a professional or swap in a rebuilt box.

Finally
 

I've solved the problem! Yesterday I browsed on some German forums trying to find where and how to rebuild a Ford 5R55N gearbox. Suddenly I see a picture of someone mentioning that you must not forget to reconnect the gearleaver mechanism onto the valvebody while reassembling! I couldn't remember doing this so I went under my car, took everything back apart and saw indeed mine wasn't connected. I unscrewed the whole thing back again and repositioned the shaft ont the levermechanism and after a few hours of work, the car engaged again.
However, the picture beneath shows that this guy put his mechanism on the topside of the shaft that goes into the valvebody. I didn't do that and put mine on the bottomside, as I could notice from the DIY manual from this forum on how to change the springs.

Thx anyhow on all the comments/suggestions.


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...ine=1362305478

Awesome! Can you help Amadeuss in his thread for a quest to determine the issue with his Ford 5 speed? He drained the fluid and replaced it but fluid is weeping out of weep hole. Check his thread out please. Thanks.