clove1325
New Member
- Joined
- August 30, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Cartersville, GA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 Ford Explorer Sport
Hey guys and gals,
I am brand new to the forum and new owner of an older explorer, my first Ford. I bought a 1999 Explorer 2 door 4x4 from my step father out of necessity and lack of options (nothing to do with make and model, just older than I would have liked). I am a single father who lost his job and car at the time and this is my main mode of transportation for my new career. I am telling you all of this because I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined by nature, although I didn't grow up working on vehicles, financial struggles have forced me to learn fairly quickly in the last five years and I've found that I really enjoy it as well but lack some of the mechanical knowledge that some of you have but could really use some help as I can't afford the labor to bring it anywhere. My diagnostic ability is limited to what I feel and see, I can't get any codes as I've seen in a lot of these articles.
The vehicle has multiple issues, but the transmission seems to me to be the most pressing so I will do my best to give as much detail as possible and hope that I'm posting in the right thread and not repeating what someone already has posted. I looked through fairly thoroughly and I did not see any that were exact as the issues I am having but close. My initial thoughts before joining this forum was to replace the valve body gaskets as it seems fairly strait forward and not a lot of $$. I look forward to any help or advice you can give me and I hope I'm able to contribute and help with knowledge I gain in the future. Thanks!
Model: 1999 Ford Ranger Sport (two door suv, not the truck) 4x4 SOHC (E model)
Miles: 149,000 (although there is a mileage discrepancy on the title) I believe it to probably be closer to 200,000
Transmission fluid: Checked fluid at running temperature in neutral, level fine and color seems to be a dark red.
I have owned this vehicle for two months and have no idea when if ever the fluid was changed or transmission was serviced
Issue: Very slow to engage into R and D. Has gotten worse over the last couple of weeks, sometimes up to 10 seconds for either. That type of time is only when it's cold. When it is warmed up there is a delay, but more along the lines of a second or two. I do not feel a major slippage between the gears, although I had an issue with what I thought was engine power at first, especially in second, that at first felt to me was a lack of power you would feel if it was running on 5 instead of six cylinders, but I believe now that is part of the transmission as well. No loud klunks or noises or shift jolts, but feels like it lacks 100% of the pressure it needs if that makes sense. There are no check engine lights or blinking overdrive, I had plug the diagnostic machine in at Advance Auto a month back for a separate issue and no codes came up (don't know how much different it is from the ford systems I've seen referenced in the forums).
I haven't purchased them yet, but was going to pull the valve body and replace the two gaskets and check the filter as well while I had it out. After finding this forum, I wanted to see if I could get any additional or helpful feedback before I did so. If I didn't include any information needed to help me, please let me know. I am trying to find the least expensive way out of this to make this last at least 6 months, longer would be great obviously, but, like i'm sure some of you here as well, I have very little available funds to spend on this, but it is my main mode of transportation vital to my family which is not a great combination! I appreciate any help or advice any of you can give.
Thanks!
Chris
I am brand new to the forum and new owner of an older explorer, my first Ford. I bought a 1999 Explorer 2 door 4x4 from my step father out of necessity and lack of options (nothing to do with make and model, just older than I would have liked). I am a single father who lost his job and car at the time and this is my main mode of transportation for my new career. I am telling you all of this because I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined by nature, although I didn't grow up working on vehicles, financial struggles have forced me to learn fairly quickly in the last five years and I've found that I really enjoy it as well but lack some of the mechanical knowledge that some of you have but could really use some help as I can't afford the labor to bring it anywhere. My diagnostic ability is limited to what I feel and see, I can't get any codes as I've seen in a lot of these articles.
The vehicle has multiple issues, but the transmission seems to me to be the most pressing so I will do my best to give as much detail as possible and hope that I'm posting in the right thread and not repeating what someone already has posted. I looked through fairly thoroughly and I did not see any that were exact as the issues I am having but close. My initial thoughts before joining this forum was to replace the valve body gaskets as it seems fairly strait forward and not a lot of $$. I look forward to any help or advice you can give me and I hope I'm able to contribute and help with knowledge I gain in the future. Thanks!
Model: 1999 Ford Ranger Sport (two door suv, not the truck) 4x4 SOHC (E model)
Miles: 149,000 (although there is a mileage discrepancy on the title) I believe it to probably be closer to 200,000
Transmission fluid: Checked fluid at running temperature in neutral, level fine and color seems to be a dark red.
I have owned this vehicle for two months and have no idea when if ever the fluid was changed or transmission was serviced
Issue: Very slow to engage into R and D. Has gotten worse over the last couple of weeks, sometimes up to 10 seconds for either. That type of time is only when it's cold. When it is warmed up there is a delay, but more along the lines of a second or two. I do not feel a major slippage between the gears, although I had an issue with what I thought was engine power at first, especially in second, that at first felt to me was a lack of power you would feel if it was running on 5 instead of six cylinders, but I believe now that is part of the transmission as well. No loud klunks or noises or shift jolts, but feels like it lacks 100% of the pressure it needs if that makes sense. There are no check engine lights or blinking overdrive, I had plug the diagnostic machine in at Advance Auto a month back for a separate issue and no codes came up (don't know how much different it is from the ford systems I've seen referenced in the forums).
I haven't purchased them yet, but was going to pull the valve body and replace the two gaskets and check the filter as well while I had it out. After finding this forum, I wanted to see if I could get any additional or helpful feedback before I did so. If I didn't include any information needed to help me, please let me know. I am trying to find the least expensive way out of this to make this last at least 6 months, longer would be great obviously, but, like i'm sure some of you here as well, I have very little available funds to spend on this, but it is my main mode of transportation vital to my family which is not a great combination! I appreciate any help or advice any of you can give.
Thanks!
Chris
