I had the ‘check engine’ light coded and there is a problem with shift solenoid C.
Engine code PO761=Performance or Stuck Off.
However, I do not know which solenoid is the ‘C’ solenoid. I have the trans cover off and the fluid drained. At this point I can see and remove 6 different solenoids but I have no idea which one is the ‘C’ solenoid.
96 Explorer with 4WD, 4.0L, XLT, Auto.
The trans shops and the dealers seem all to unhappy to describe which one the ‘C’ solenoid might be for fear I might repair the car all by myself :mad:
The parts shop guy tells me to call a dealer or a trans shop. The dealer tells me to call the parts shop, the trans shop says only the dealer can know for sure, etc.
The dealer ‘may’ have the solenoid in stock.
Anyway, could one of you google savvy persons or someone with a repair shop (Rick) please try to describe which solenoid I should be replacing?
I don’t have a Haynes or Chiltons manual but I may have to stop at the library on the way home and see if they have one.
My books show P0761 as referring to shift solenoid 3 (SS3), seems to be the same as shift solenoid C. It appears the solenoids can be identified by the color of the wires going to them, as follows:
Be aware that the code could be set by items other than the solenoid, such as a wiring fault, a faulty ECU (computer), broken forward clutch control valve retainer clip (common problem), or worn valve body (common problem). As near as I can tell, just replacing the solenoid requires removing the valve body. Valve body removal/replacement is a potential can of worms, and I wouldn’t attempt it without a good thorough repair manual. The manuals sold to do-it-yourselfers generally don’t have this info, and have doubts that libraries get the professional-grade manuals that do.
If you can identify SS3, and replace it without disturbing the valve body, I’d say it’s worth a shot. I’d be leery of dropping the valve body because they sometimes have parts that fall free from their slots (typically loose check balls), and without accurate repair info the odds of getting them back in the right place are miniscule.
Thanks Gary.
The wiring code you displayed should help once I get back under the truck.
White, Yellow it is.
The problem the truck was having is it would shift into overdrive hard (cripple mode?) the first time on a trip and would not shift back into overdrive after downshifting. Reverse would sometimes take a few seconds to lock in when the trans was cold, not the normal few seconds, more like 10-15 seconds. Not sure if the reverse thing is at all related, the trans has 170,000 miles on it. When I fill trans back up with juice I’m going to add a can of Lucas and see if that helps hold the thing together.
I was already able to remove the clip and unplug one of the solenoids, so I believe the other 5 should come out the same way. No dropping of valve body, thankgod.
I don’t know enough about transmission particulars to evaluate the overdrive shifting symptoms. The delay into reverse cold sounds like the typical symptom of internal seals getting old – they lose their flexibility and need to warm up a bit in order to fully contact the surfaces they work on. If this is the case, it will likely get worse with time, especially in cold weather. The cure is a tranny overhaul, but with luck it may be a while before it gets bad enough to require that.
In this case it wasn’t an actual book, but my professional repair info system on electronic media (Alldata). I would expect that Mitchell, Chilton, and Motor would have it in their pro-grade transmission manuals. I learned years ago that those companies publish “stepped down” manuals for the general public, lacking things like automatic tranny overhaul, power steering gear overhaul, etc. Even Mitchell’s pro-grade electrical book for that year (which I have) doesn’t include this among its wiring diagrams, but I’m sure it’s in that year’s tranny book (which I don’t have).
Cool…
I replaced the solenoid and the required fluid levels (including the Lucas, which seems to help the reverse issue so far) and thanks to your wiring input I appear to have the thing fixed. It shifts into overdrive without any problems, smooth and steady. With the wiring in the tranny ten years old it was a little hard to tell yellow from gray from white from brown, so I had to use process of elimination;
This one looks most brown, this one looks sort of grayish, that one is a little darker than that one so it must be the yellow wire. I think I got it right.
please try to describe which solenoid I should be replacing?