On Mar 29, 9:08 pm, wrote:
> Good Evening,
>
> I found an earlier post (2004) on this topic but no clear solution.
>
> Any ideas on why my auto trans won't downshift to 1st gear when
> manually placed into 1st gear? It will limit itself to first gear
> only when accelerating in 1st gear but it won't allow engine breaking
> to decelerate on decents. It seams like it is in neutral when no gas
> is applied, allow
> it to coast and even pick speed on a steep decent. 2nd gear
> functionality works fine including engine braking.
>
> I have experimented with it enough to know that it is a real problem,
> and not related to high-speed shifting in to 1st.
>
> Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Here's the answer I posted previously. I should have included "5R55E"
so you could find it...

That is a known problem caused by a gasket in the valve body blowing
out. It's fixed by replacing a plate in the valve body with a new one
which now has the gasket permanently bonded to the plate. They
recommend replacing a failure-prone solenoid while you're at it.

Here's some great info on this problem from "Serious Explorations":

TSB 03-22-10...

FORD: 1995-2001 EXPLORER

ISSUE:
Some vehicles built prior to 12/1/2001 may exhibit the following shift
and engagement conditions:

No 2nd Gear
No 3rd Gear
No Engine Braking In Manual 1st.
Out of specification pressures controlled by the transmission main
control valve body separator plate may be the cause.

ACTION:
Verify the condition, the main control valve body separator plate may
need to be updated to the latest level. Refer to the following Service
Procedure for details.

See the whole article, be sure to read the stuff way down at the
bottom:
http://tinyurl.com/yg23rj
-Paul