Same overdrive prob. As everyone else. Broken ring piece in same spot as most was found. Getting ready to remove the broken OD ring and noticed something on the valve body. When I removed the valve body, I handled it like it was a new born child! It was immediately place in a large silver tray. When I was done finding the broken ring pieces I noticed a check ball was missing!!! I can't find it and have no idea how it could have disappeared!!! How screwed am?????

 

Everything I read talks about 8 check *****. Is it possible that some of that valve bodies actually have 7? I have a 2006. All the picks that I took after taking off the separator plate shows the check ball is not there.

 

After finding the check ball stuck to the separator plate, everything is good to go now! I first got on this website back in 2006 when I got my F150. This website was awesome back then and it still is now! I would have easily been out $1500 or more if not for this post! Thank you to everyone! Now if someone could come up with a creative way to remove that DAMN ring!!!

 

Glad you found the check ball. I have plenty and would have sent you one if not.

And yes, that snap ring sucks to get out. I made a jig out of flat steel, a bolt and nut. Bent the flat steel into a u shape so that it can bolt down over the servo hole using the valve body bolt holes. Then there is a hole in the center of the u that the bolt goes through to tighten down and compress the servo.

Or, you can use a bottle jack like everyone else.

D

 

Hey all,
My 2005 F150 (4.6L V8) lost it's overdrive the other day. Thanks to this thread and utilizing my auto technology class at school I was able to drop the valve body, find and fix the problem. For me, it was the very tip (probably less than 1/4") of the overdrive servo outer snap ring that found its way down into the valve spool, just like most of you guys. I bought my truck with 103K on it and now has almost 108K. Safe to say it had never had a trans service in its life until I fixed it yesterday, and now it's shifting better than it has since I've owned it. Thanks to Tim98 for starting this thread and for Darrin answering my PMs. This thread is still helping us years later! I agree that this is such a common problem, I'm suprised Ford never issued a recall on the design of that snap ring!

 

Happy that you figured it out before you went with a transmission replacement Ryan. Wasn't hard at all was it?

Good job!
D

 

Hey Guys,

I think I am running into the same issue. I've got an 06 5.4. I haven't been driving the truck lately, but the wife has been. The issue came up when she was driving. Some sort of 'Trans Service" thing came up on the screen, and "it started acted really funny". I have an Edge tuner on it and I find this thing does some weird things, so we figured it had something to do with it. She said it was now running fine. It was about a week until I took it for a ride and realized something major was wrong immediately. Doesn't want to shift into overdrive, and seems to go in neutral for a minute then back down a gear.

There were some codes, but I cleared them with my tuner by accident before taking note of what they are. My main question here is how can I get it to flash the codes again? I took it for a little rip this evening but no codes. Should I take it for a longer ride? Really want to get the codes and hopefully it's a sensor issue.

Also, if it likely is that snap ring - is this a doable project over a weekend with no garage? Would pretty much be doing it on the side of the road.

 

Just wanted to add a couple more things. Have read through this and think I have the confidence now to tackle this myself. Is there somewhere that that has a complete walk through of the whole process? Tons of info in here and I learned tons from different posts, but would be nice if all the necessary info was in one spot.

Also, I am going to order some parts from Ford. I've got an 06 with a 5.4 Triton. What parts should I order? The snap ring, and some gaskets?

 

Pulled the valve body off today and was shocked to see that everything was intact. I was convinced that I had the same issue as everyone else. I was short on time as I wasn't using my own garage and after inspecting what I could I carefully put it all back together. Still no overdrive and unsure where to go from here. I've ready through the whole thread and I know a few people mentioned that they had the OD problem but their snap rings were fine. What could it be?

 

I sent you a private message. Lets talk through some stuff there if you want and then come back to the thread after we get further.

I will try to do what I can to help you figure it out and then share it here.

D

 

Hey guys I think I'm having the same issue I have a 2004 f150 with 150000k miles on it and I have kept up with the truck to make sure it was in very good condition and I have never had any issues with it what so ever but the other day I was leaving to go out of town and I had almost made it the interstate when all of sudden at about 40 mph the truck seemed to go into neutral losses power and the rpms went through the roof and I had to slow down for the truck to go back into 1st gear and it happens every time I hit 40 mphs... also I noticed a wierd about of water coming out of the exhaust. Not sure if that matters or not... like I said I have kept up with it in mint condition or so I thought... if anybody has had the same issues please let me know!

 

Ford12345,

Don't know about the water in the exhaust, sometimes when you get one problem you start seeing problems everywhere you look. But as for the transmission issue - if you turn off overdrive, does the truck then drive OK - higher rpm on the highway of course, but no going into neutral?

 

I bought a 2004 F150 SuperCrew a few weeks ago and didnt do my diligence to go through this thread before jumping into it. Unfortunately, the guy was a criminal and had the engine with O/D off, so I didnt notice anything wrong until after I paid the money and the dude turned around and took off...Life lessons learned for sure. Not to mention it turns out the 95k miles was a new cluster put on and this truck probably has more like 150k but it drives pretty solid other than this issue. That being said, I have read through this post and all of the ones similar multiple times, and am ready to tear into the transmission tomorrow.

Just wanted to ask a few questions before I get into it...

1) If I dont drop the OD solenoid completely out, just utilize the bottle jack technique (assuming it is the snap ring), do I need to worry about lining up the holes in the band in regards to shifting? Sorry if that isnt the "technical" wording.

2) Parts list - please let me know if I am leaving anything off or have it wrong.
Snap Ring - F2VY 7384 B
Trans Filter - FT105D
Gasket 1 - 1W7Z-7D100-AB
Gasket 2 - 1L3Z-7C155-AA
11 qts Mercon V
Needle nose vice grips

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!!

 

when I dropped my valve body the overdrive servo fell right out. the snap ring was in a million pieces. but if the overdrive is gone and the servo isnt engaging the band, chances are you will have to use the small hole to move the band then compress the servo back in and install the snap ring. (helps if you have someone hold the band for you while you re-install the servo and snap ring)

I installed the sonnax sure cure kit when I redid mine and cleaned the valve body really well, removing the valves and cleaning and lubricating and reinstalling.

you might not need 11 qtz mine was more like 8 or 9

As far as your list goes you wont need needle nose vice grips but you will need.

Snap ring pliers
torque wrench
picks for holding the band in place
Brake cleaner

good luck

 

Thanks Deptucked - I ended up doing this last weekend. Same thing as you said, when I dropped the valve body down the snap ring was in about 15-16 pieces. The servo itself had dropped down and was resting on top of the valve body. I did end up having to get the band back in place, but it wasn't as hard as I had thought, only took a few tries to get the servo tip to catch.

A few tips I learned that might be helpful...
- make sure you take the time to either use the cardboard picture to put your bolts in (brilliant op) or somehow come up with your own system.
- make sure you are patient and find all of the pieces of your snap ring. Took me about 30 minutes to find everything, but it's a peace of mind knowing it's all there.
- take pictures, and compare before final bolt up. One of the valves on the side of the valve body (assume it's related to the shifting gears) I had put the valve all the way out when it lined up instead of all the way on. Luckily I had a picture and noticed it before bolt up.
- above all, enjoy working on your truck!!

Thanks everyone for all of your comments - saved a ridiculous amount of money!!