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No 3rd or 4th Gear on 96 Explorer V8 w/ 4R70W Transmission

CamDJClimited

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
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City, State
Southampton, MA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1996 Ford Explorer Limite
The other night I was driving, and the transmission wouldn't go any higher than 2nd gear. When it would "go into" 3rd and id give it gas, it would seem like its in neutral and go back to 2nd. I had to manually switch between 1st ad 2nd gear the way home so it wouldn't go into 3rd or 4th. What happened? Its a 4R70W used transmission with 60,000 miles on it. My mechanic put it in and changed the fluid, filter, and seals.
 



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3rd gear band may have snapped.

60K is WAY too young to have a 4r70w fail.
 












My 98 EB V8 AWD had the samiliar situation years ago. I could only drive at 2nd and 1st gear. I took it to a local mechanic and they told me that the transmission needs to be replaced. It costed me about $2500 to replace the transmission. The truck was just at 63K at that time. NOw it has 108K with the replaced transmission. By the way, with the replaced transmission, I had 3 years warranty from Ford.
 






I thought so. Aren't these 4R70W's strong transmissions?

They are, usually. My 97 had 189K on the orig tranny when I sold it, my 98 had 165K on the orig tranny when I sold it.

My current 01 started having a delayed shift in drive, and hesitating mid-May (108K), then I had new fluid put in and it started to slip and shudder. I picked up a tested 4r70w w/78K miles from a local yard I've done work with for $350, and then paid 700$ to have my trans shop drain it, put new fluid in, new gaskets, new filter, and install it. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.
 






Check the throttle position sensor. If it is reading too high it will hold "downshift".

Edit
any check engine light or od flashing light displayed?
 






same problem!

The other night I was driving, and the transmission wouldn't go any higher than 2nd gear. When it would "go into" 3rd and id give it gas, it would seem like its in neutral and go back to 2nd. I had to manually switch between 1st ad 2nd gear the way home so it wouldn't go into 3rd or 4th. What happened? Its a 4R70W used transmission with 60,000 miles on it. My mechanic put it in and changed the fluid, filter, and seals.

this just happened to my truck too! it was fine last wed (11-2-11), and then the very next day while driving to a kroger i couldn't go past 40mph! wtf? at 134k mi?! how are these transmissions strong when they suddenly go out like that? i take care of my vehicles.....did you get yours fixed yet? if so, how much did it cost you? i'm on a limited budget and wouldn't dare go to a ford dealer .....:frustrate
 






Was this ever diagnosed? Im having the same problem at 110 k miless :(
 






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