What Happened Help Me

[BlackHawk09er]

Ok.. i was Driving to a party today.. and i stoped at a stop light, and out of no where my ex turns off.I freak out and put it in park and try to start it again and it starts fine but i put it in drive and give it gas but all that happens is RPMS shoot up like crazy and car goes no where.

We pushed off the side off the road and i even tried reverse and first and second gear but nothing but intense RPMS and noise.

Some one help me, please. I have no idea about what i problem is, it is a 2001 explorer sport with 90,000 miles on it.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Might want to check out that your gear shift linkage is all intact all the way to the transmission. My linkage came undone inside of the transmission once. But this would not explain why your explorer stalled.

Sounds like some internal mechanical part broke inside of the transmission, either that or your torque converter broke some how.

Either way sounds like you might just have to rebuild your transmission, its about time anyway at 90k.

 

[BlackHawk09er]

about how much am i looking at?

 

[Essex4x4]

Have your alternator tested, could be the reason it stalled in the first place. my previous car had a bad alternator and it stalled all of the time

 

[Mbrooks420]

No way to guess how much it would be, unless you rebuild the whole thing which would be in the neighborhood of 1,500. Where there any shifting problems prior? The transmission uses a digital transmission range sensor, or DTR, I would look at that first. If there was no previous shifting problems a rebuild probably isn't necessary.

 

[JDraper]

Have your alternator tested, could be the reason it stalled in the first place. my previous car had a bad alternator and it stalled all of the time

Wanna explain to me how a bad alternator is going to keep a vehicle from going into gear?:scratch:


Blackhawk09er, we don't have enough information to diagnose what your problem is, but I would definitely suspect it's transmission related. If you're not mechanically inclined, you're going to have to get it to a reliable shop for a proper diagnosis. It could be anything from a bad sensor (as Mbrooks said) to a bad torque converter to a broken component inside the transmission.


A quick question...have you checked the fluid level in your transmission lately?

 

[Essex4x4]

Wanna explain to me how a bad alternator is going to keep a vehicle from going into gear?:scratch:

I was simply saying that could be the reason it stalled in the first place. I don't know enough about a trans to give him advice on that. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[aldive]

Wanna explain to me how a bad alternator is going to keep a vehicle from going into gear?:scratch:

I too was wondering about that comment.

 

[Nocturnall]

It has been my experience that when an Alternator dies the vehicle will stop running and not start again because the battery has been killed along with it....

If you plan on keeping the truck for a while you could always bring it to Aamco. While I don't generally like going to places like that they do offer warranties on their transmission work and they're all over the place.

I had mine rebuilt for $500 by a friend who works as a ford mechanic. I had to remove it, bring it to him, and then re install it though which while wasn't difficult I had a vehicle I could borrow, a garage to leave it on jack stands for a week and the most important part a friend who could do the rebuild.

 

[BlackHawk09er]

Yes i checked the Transmission Fluid, And it was fine

 

[Joe Dirt]

Since when is 90K "about time" for a transmission rebuild?

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I've talked to several transmission repair shops around town and they all tell me that ford transmissions usually come in for an overhaul around 80k.

 

[aldive]

I've talked to several transmission repair shops around town and they all tell me that ford transmissions usually come in for an overhaul around 80k.

Complete and utter unadulterated bovine poo poo.

 

[JDraper]

I've talked to several transmission repair shops around town and they all tell me that ford transmissions usually come in for an overhaul around 80k.

There's a sucker born every minute too....They're probably just trying to drum up more (unnecessary) business. A well maintained tranny will last far longer than that.

 

[Nocturnall]

I refuse to believe that mechanics of all people are lyin....well fibbing to drum up more business when things are slow. These are mechanics after all, known through out the world for utmost honesty and knowledge in all areas of automotive repair.

 

[35Remmy]

Ha, that's a joke...every 80K miles? Every FORD we've owned has had at LEAST
160,000 miles before the trans was in need of repair.


My '99 Ranger has had a rebuilt valve body.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I was just told that most fords that are rebuilt have around 80k on them. I dont doubt the quality of ford's past transmission, I am a bit uneasy about the 5r55w in my explorer though. Especially after reading:

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Explorer/2002/transmission/index.shtml

I think I would be lucky to get 80k out of my explorer's transmission with the 02's track record.

My neighbor had to rebuild his '03 explorer's tranny around 35k. Never went off roading or towed with it or drove it crazy.

I would be shocked if my '02 explorer tranny goes past 100k.

What do you think of the tranny in the '02s? Think they will last as long as the previous explorer's?

 

[Essex4x4]

Before i totaled my 1991 EB, it had 165,000 on its original trans. No major, or minor, overhauls here

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

So by the lack of replies to my last comment, I think we can all conclude that the "newer" ford explorer transmissions (5r55w) needs an over haul by about 80k. (Not due to unproper maintenance, but because ford does not build transmission well any more and the bores for the servos wear out prematurely.

 

[JDraper]

So by the lack of replies to my last comment, I think we can all conclude that the "newer" ford explorer transmissions (5r55w) needs an over haul by about 80k. (Not due to unproper maintenance, but because ford does not build transmission well any more and the bores for the servos wear out prematurely.

I don't conclude that at all. You shouldn't take lack of response as agreement. Yes some will die prematurely, but I would venture a guess that 95% of them would last longer than that. On the site you cited (no pun intended) they have 172 complaints out of several hundred thousand sold.

Do you have hard data that shows that they need an overhaul at 80k? I'd bet you can find plenty of people on this board that have over 80k on one of the Gen III Explorers that don't have transmission issues.