2002 4.6L Auto Explorer transmision problem

[-=John=-]

G'day from Australia !

After much searching on these forums and generally on the net...I thought I'd start a thread so hopefully some knowledgeable people can give me some advice.

I bought the explorer 2 years ago with 97000 kms and have done another 50000 to date. The sequence of events starting from when we bought it.

-Noticed a noise which I am still unsure of today..it seems to be coming from the transmission but disappears once in top gear.

-I took it back to the dealer within 2 weeks of buying it and they put a new torque converter in it.

-The noise persisted but the dealer said they couldn't find any fault.

- Was towing aprox. 1.5 tonnes across the Hay plains and the engine bay caught on fire ! I put the fire out and went back to a little service station in the middle of the Aussie outback. They told me that the transmission had been over filled and they drained it back to the specified level.

-The car has always behaved strangely if I plant it from a stand still...it seems to slip or jerk every second or so as if something in the gearbox was letting go for a split second.. , but once it shifts into 2nd it pulls smoothly, though under normal/gentle driving conditions this never happens.

-Recently, he O/D light started flashing whenever I go over 70kph and the message center reads "Check transmission".
I had a mate read the codes and it came up with "P0741 Torque converter clutch circuit performance or stuck off".

We've hardly towed anything after the time it caught on fire, and we've only taken it offroad once (along a beach...soft/dry sand) for maybe 10kms.

I really don't know where to start now after reading all the horror stories on the net about this particular model explorer transmission. I don't trust my dealer here after the car caught on fire only days after they had serviced it and left it with the transmission overfull !

I've also heard of transmissions failing after the pan being removed and oil being changed.

My first thought is to take the pan off and have a look..even if it's only to change the oil, but I don't want to do anything that might cause more damage. I can't afford to have a new transmission put in it.

I've been thinking about selling the car (if anyone will buy it) before it becomes a bottomless money pit from hell.

Apart from the transmission, the rest of the car has been great...it would be a shame to have to get rid of it.

Any ideas ?

Thanks,
-John

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the wiring harness to see if some of the insulation got damaged from the fire.

 

[-=John=-]

The wiring is ok from what I can see. There was a lot of smoke from the transmission fluid on the exhaust, and it only caught on fire once I stopped, but I managed to put the fire out very quickly. It kind of flared up and then just went out.

It went fine for almost 2 years before I started getting the flashing O/D light and error code.

-John

 

[trucku]

take her back to the shop that did the original work. They should have their parts under warranty. Also let them know what happened.

 

[BrooklynBay]

It could be a defective TCC solenoid.

 

[murphy_07]

We are having exact same problems with our 02 explorer. 'Cept we don't tow anything but a bunch of kids (inside of course) and we have not caught fire.... yet. Now, the suv sits in my driveway while I am paying 550.00 payments per month because I have no warrenty and can't afford to fix what ever problem is. If it's the torque then its GOOD news for me because the garage that replaced the torque when we purchased it informed us we have a years warrenty on it. I am so happy that these posts are here! Because I am sure the transmission shop will tell me it's not the torque at all... (because I am very mechanically dumb) I can provide proof now... lol
Thanks guys
Jo