5R55E Overfilled and black fluid

[Grandy]

Hi all,
Recently acquired a 1997 Ranger Supercab 4.0L with a dead 5R55E transmission. Transmission does not engage in any gear, verified the linkage is working and tried leaving it in drive a few minutes to see if pressure would build but got nothing.

Fluid is black, overfilled halfway up the dipstick. I’ve never seen it like this in 40 years of working on cars! How do you overfill that much?

I was looking for opinions if I should bother dropping the pan and doing a filter change and filling to the proper level just to see if there is any life left in it. My gut says the pump is dead and maybe the torque converter too.

Thanks.

 

[RonD]

Trust your gut

But good news is you can use 1995 thru 2011 4R or 5R from a Ranger 4.0l 2WD or Mazda B4000 2WD as direct replacement
Lower the miles the better but being service during those miles is also important

If its a 1998-2011 5R then you will need to swap your 1997 tail shaft housing over to it so you have the VSS/Speedometer hook up hole
Not hard to do
The 4R and 5R have the speedometer drive gear machined on to the shaft in all years, only the hole was gone 1998 and up

4R and 5R are exactly the same transmission internally, same wiring, same solenoids and sensors, the 5th ratio(gear) was added using computer software that turns on OD in 1st gear to get an inbetween ratio when shifting from 1st to 2nd, so a 1.5 gear, lol, but Ford called it 2nd now so could call it a 5-speed because it was a 5-ratio transmission now

In 2001 Ford added 2 extra sensors to the outside of the 5R housing, OSS and ISS sensors, but they are not needed when using it with a 1995-2000 computer, so are just left unhooked
So while YOU can use a newer 5R model in your 1997 people with 2001, and up, can not use an older 5R model, they need the 2 extra sensors

 

[Grandy]

Trust your gut

But good news is you can use 1995 thru 2011 4R or 5R from a Ranger 4.0l 2WD or Mazda B4000 2WD as direct replacement

Thanks for the information. Is there any benefit to using a newer model in regards to updates/upgrades done by Ford compared to a 1997 transmission?

 

[RonD]

Yes, always, later models always have the small changes learned from first models failures, and usually less miles
Although the 4R/5R was one of the better light duty Automatics Ford had, 1986-2011, 26 year run with the same rotating mass, just valve body changes and a few tweaks here and there