c4ld3
New Member
- Joined
- September 2, 2023
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- San Salvador
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Ford Explorer XLT
Transmission suddenly disconnecting when the car is "cold"
We bought a '98 explorer from a neighbor like 2 years ago, at that moment the transmission already was having some issues, first of all, it couldn't engage "parking" so it had to be left in reverse for you to take off the key from the ignition, it also came with the problem that it was permanently stuck on first when you left it in drive until you rode the car for a while and then it started changing gears, you could always force 2nd and 1st in the shifter and they would both work tho
With time, reverse started failing, you had to accelerate a bit of wait for reverse to engage on it's own, that wasn't always the case but happened from time to time, it also had the issue that if you hit the brake to come to a dead stop out of nowhere the transmission disengaged for a while until you accelerated a bit for it to engage again
We had an issue with the power steering pump 2 months ago and had to take the radiator out to change the hose, in the process I accidentally broke one of the transmission fluid metal hoses and some of the oil did escape out of it, like 300-400 ml, and since that day when we finally could start it again after fixing the hose, it started having issues every single day. Now none of the gears will engage until the car is hot enough (more than 20 mins of idling) or you accelerate it very aggressively and force to get into gear (that only works for a few seconds until it disconnects again and you have to accelerate again), the car still works "great" after it gets hot enough like before, but starting it in the morning means you have to really force it a bit or burn a lot o fuel idling.
Also, the first day I started it and checked the oil level, it seemed to be a bit lower than the recommended level, but still in the crossed zone, but now when I check it (mostly when already cold) the oil seemed to go up like 3x times the crossed area and tbh I don't think that my explorer suddenly developed an oil generator in the transmission, it also smells like bunt oil when you check it
This poor explorer is my daily driver, and I'm scared that someday it will just not feel like moving. What do you guys think that the transmission could have? Any of you have experienced something similar before?
Money is a bit tight rn and I don't have any reliable automatic transmission mecanic in my contacts, just finding a new one would be really expensive and basically a gamble because most scrappyards here don't give you any guarantee for those kinds of parts
I really love this car and wouldn't like for it to just sit in front of my house collecting plants and rust
We bought a '98 explorer from a neighbor like 2 years ago, at that moment the transmission already was having some issues, first of all, it couldn't engage "parking" so it had to be left in reverse for you to take off the key from the ignition, it also came with the problem that it was permanently stuck on first when you left it in drive until you rode the car for a while and then it started changing gears, you could always force 2nd and 1st in the shifter and they would both work tho
With time, reverse started failing, you had to accelerate a bit of wait for reverse to engage on it's own, that wasn't always the case but happened from time to time, it also had the issue that if you hit the brake to come to a dead stop out of nowhere the transmission disengaged for a while until you accelerated a bit for it to engage again
We had an issue with the power steering pump 2 months ago and had to take the radiator out to change the hose, in the process I accidentally broke one of the transmission fluid metal hoses and some of the oil did escape out of it, like 300-400 ml, and since that day when we finally could start it again after fixing the hose, it started having issues every single day. Now none of the gears will engage until the car is hot enough (more than 20 mins of idling) or you accelerate it very aggressively and force to get into gear (that only works for a few seconds until it disconnects again and you have to accelerate again), the car still works "great" after it gets hot enough like before, but starting it in the morning means you have to really force it a bit or burn a lot o fuel idling.
Also, the first day I started it and checked the oil level, it seemed to be a bit lower than the recommended level, but still in the crossed zone, but now when I check it (mostly when already cold) the oil seemed to go up like 3x times the crossed area and tbh I don't think that my explorer suddenly developed an oil generator in the transmission, it also smells like bunt oil when you check it
This poor explorer is my daily driver, and I'm scared that someday it will just not feel like moving. What do you guys think that the transmission could have? Any of you have experienced something similar before?
Money is a bit tight rn and I don't have any reliable automatic transmission mecanic in my contacts, just finding a new one would be really expensive and basically a gamble because most scrappyards here don't give you any guarantee for those kinds of parts
I really love this car and wouldn't like for it to just sit in front of my house collecting plants and rust
