I took the car to the dealer to have the transmission diagnosed to confirm my assessment. Surging while climbing hills, chattering in the lower gears, etc. I was thinking bad torque converter lockup, they confirmed, probably something wrong with converter or internal issues. I'm also pretty sure that as this TC lockup issue has progressed, it's started to effect the shifting performance. Dr. Tranny additive seemed to help a little, but issue persisted and got worse again after a couple drives. Dealer quoted me a ridiculous sum to uninstall and dismantle the trans just to find source of problem. They said it would be cheaper to swap in a reman unit, which I'm inclined to agree with, since it will still be a 140k trans with parts swapped, and almost as expensive to do the repair as it is to replace completely.
Since I've already swapped a 2015 Explorer motor into this car 10k miles ago, I've decided that I'm going to do the work myself and already pulled the trigger on a Rockauto Transmission Authority unit. I'm 99% sure this is a rebranded ETE unit, since they sent me to Rockauto as one of the retailers that carry their unit, and it's got the part number they gave me assigned to it (T161645). They seem to have a decent reputation, it's got some sort of shift kit in it and it's got a 3-year warranty, so I'm fairly confident it will be a good unit, especially if I can actually get past repairing this beast and actually do some light modding (beyond the HD brake upgrade I've already done in anticipation).
Question for the pro mechanics on the forum: Being that this is a modern electronically shifted transmission with torque management and all various sorts of voodoo, is there a special learn procedure that has to be done in the ecu once the trans is in the vehicle? The dealer service manager said something about a shift control number off of the transmission that would need to be programmed in, and that they could do it if I did the swap myself. Could the car be driven over there (about a mile and a half) or would I have to have a flatbed tow it over? In other words, will the transmission work at all if the programming isn't completed, or is it just a matter of getting it to work correctly with this programming? Being such a short distance, I could even deal with a 1st gear drive over there at 5mph if I had to. Thanks in advance for any replies.
Aside from the solenoid body assembly code needing to be programmed into the PCM, should be pretty straightforward. SBA = TCM, BTW. LOL. It will not shift right without this update, so towing is recommended. IDK if Forscan can be used to update. Also, you will want to clear the transmission adaptive tables if u get used rather than remanned trans.
How does the ETE pricing compare to Ford? How many miles in warranty?
Recheck your fluid level and do a quick drain and fill.... replacing the transmission is expensive.
Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread but for some reason I missed the replies here and wanted to leave an update on what happened for anyone who stumbles across this thread. I swapped in the transmission without issue and did indeed have the car flatbed towed over to the dealer to program the TCM. In answer to the question of price, I can't remember exact numbers at this point but I think it was less than half dealer part cost. The warranty was 2 years and I think unlimited miles. I added an aux transmission cooler and an in line filter at the time the trans was swapped because I was getting 215 fluid temps just driving it around the block (lots of hills in the area I was living). Temps rarely climb above 200 now. It has a modified valve body so the shifting is a little weird. Sometimes it will jolt on the 2-3 shift and the shifts are generally firmer than the factory trans. If you're looking for that silky smooth factory shift I'd steer clear of this unit. Haven't had any reliability issues though. Runs nice and cool, no slipping and working fine after about 33k miles. Ran it cross-country towing a fully loaded enclosed tandem U-Haul trailer last summer and it didn't miss a beat. The car was supposed to be on a trailer behind the moving truck but we ran out of room so the flex was enlisted as a tow vehicle. 2700 miles of that is about as hard on a transmission as one can get. Very happy overall with it.
Zip kit for the valve body? Gearing differences from original transmission?