Howdy from Alaska!

[n3rdygrrrl]

Hi, all! I"m a relatively short term Explorer owner, and the girl is giving me fits already. *laughs* 3 months ago, I bought a 96 Limited from a friend. 4.0L, auto trans, push button 4x4, 132K miles. My friend bought it about 3 miles prior to that, as she needed something that would fit 2 carseats, and her 76' F150 single cab sure wasn't gonna fit that bill! Anyway, when she bought it, the OD light was flashing and it was a little 'sluggish' to shift from 2nd to 3rd. It pulled a code that pointed to the transmission speed sensor. She told me the speed sensor was a $10 part, and she'd help me replace it. Sounded easy enough! =) I know you are shaking your head already....and, no, she's not a bad friend. I'm a bad buyer for not taking it to my mechanic and having him look at it before I took her at her word!

Cause, you guessed it! last month, it stopped shifting into any gear at all. could have been worse, drove it to work all was normal. Got off of work, started up, would 'shift' but not engage any gear. My mechanic's shop is only 5 miles from my office, so the tow was cheap and easy. My tranny fluid was at a good level, but it was brown and nasty. So, I asked that we start with a tranny service, see how things were. And while he was in there, he was gonna change out the speed sensort, too. Bonus!

Until he pulled the pan off, and there were chunks in my pan! =( My mechanic is not a tranny guy, but I trust him completely. I am forever driving 'projects', and I've worked with him on several second rate vehicles, he is honest and tells it like it is. He's not afraid to say when he's run into something that stumps him or he just doesn't know about. (Not that that happens very often.) So, he called me and pretty much said, "I'm not a tranny guy, I can replace a tranny, but not rebuild it. Chunks in your oil pan is bad." *laughs*

New tranny from Ford is $2,500 with a core deposit. Not entirely sure my core would be good. Local tranny shop will rebuild for $1,800. I'm thinking about buying something that has rear end damage or something and having my guy pull the good tranny and put that in my girl. So, I stumbled across this forum through google, and now I'm trying to learn all I can to find the cheapest resolution to my transmission woes!

Also very sorry to say that when this is all said and done, I'll be selling the thing and buying a 3/4 or 1 ton. I don't know what I was thinking getting an explorer in the first place, I can't haul much with it, and I have horses. I guess I seduced by her sleek curves and amazing options! After the transmission is replaced, she's gonna make someone VERY happy!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Do you know what the code number was? You could flush the transmission, replace the filter, then add fresh fluid, and see if that helps before you put a transmission into it.

 

[n3rdygrrrl]

I don't have the code on hand, but my mechanic does. Also, when he pulled the pan off to do the initially tranny service, there were chunks of the tranny in the oil pan...so his take was that a simple tranny service wasn't gonna do us much good.

 

[gavin]

not many Alaskans on here :

$2500 doesn't sound too off for a new tranny from Ford.
I got mine rebuilt several years back for around $1750. I'm not too familiar with any transmission shops out in the Palmer/Wasilla area. Top Jimmy was the one I always heard good about, but he's no longer running a business.

and what, exactly, kind of "chunks" were found in the transmission pan?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258088

I can't seem to find the thread for it, but it's also possible to find a white plastic nub, which was originally put in the top of the dipstick tube to prevent debris, and gets pushed into the pan when the dipstick is installed during assembly.

 

[n3rdygrrrl]

At the time that my mechanic told me there were 'chunks' in the pan, I was too depressed to ask him much more. *laughs* He still has them, and now that I have taken the time to educate myself some more, I'm interested to see what they are. He suspected they were pieces from a band. From what I've read here, sounds like band 2 is the one that goes most frequently.

Lookin for a line on a parts vehicle I can drive and feel the transmission on. I don't want to pay my mechanic to put in a bad tranny, even if a junk yard will give me another replacement. That's a lot of time in the shop to pay to put in a bad one, pull out a bad one, and put in another one! So my plan is to find something with maybe extensive body damage that I can drive to the shop. My mechanic told me it'd be about $750 to pull both trannies and put the good one in my Explorer. So, that, plus the cost of the parts vehicle....seems like the cheapest way out, with the best chance of having a solid vehicle after the work.

Then you will be seeing this b!tch on craigslist. Full disclosure, I don't want to screw anyone. But I need something that will pull a horse trailer. Currently looking for at least a 3/4 ton Ford....

 

[gavin]

looks like craigslist would be your best bet.
searching 'yards using car-part.com only shows 2 transmissions in this area, with both of them being at the yard between Chugiak and Eagle River and both are high-mileage.

Although I don't believe either of the yards out in the valley are part of the network car-part.com searches, as I don't think I've ever seen the 'yard out in the Butte listed (can't think of the name, Knik something?), and I remember another one up off... oh what was that... Schrock somewhere I think? Years ago when I went to that one.

 

[n3rdygrrrl]

This forum has been great so far. i've been able to expand my search from just 96 explorers (what I started looking for) to Aerostars, Rangers, Explorers, and Mazda pickups! There are a lot of Rangers on CL, quite a few being parted out, too. I'm feeling more and more optimistic about this entire situation.