Bang, no reverse!

[WalterChucker]

So yesterday going to move my Ex, put it in reverse, loud bang/clunk from the back and NO reverse! All other gears ok. My nephew told me of an Aerostar with the same problem, said the owner fixed it by taking off the tranny pan and accessing and replacing a part on the tranny. Anyone had experience like this on an Explorer? Bad time for Murphy's Law to kick in! It's my 98 Ex with 188 k miles, 4.0 SOHC and the 55RE(?) transmission. Can this truck be saved?

It's the bang that is the deciding factor. I went through the no reverse issue as well but it just wouldn't shift into reverse, no bang, forwards all worked for me as well. The part/parts he's referring to are what I had to replace to fix mine but again; no bang.

 

[Josh P]

You guys are the best! Still weird to be a newbie at fixing cars at my age, LOL

How many times have you been 29? It's never too late to learn how to work on cars.

 

[C420sailor]

You’re a spring chicken…plenty of time to learn!

Manual swap is definitely a project…but it’s certainly doable. As mentioned, once you collect the parts it isn’t too bad. Having an extra set of hands helps.

 

[joney]

Well I felt like I was getting away with something, as I drove through the snow covered yard, to unpark my Ex! Have located a place to park it at night. So just cop a ride down to it, and driving everywhere as long as I can pull forward, LOL. Anybody want to tell me about the first time they fixed an automatic transmission in an Explorer?

 

[Josh P]

Anybody want to tell me about the first time they fixed an automatic transmission in an Explorer?

The automatic in my Aerostar started losing gears when I was working 50 miles from home. I managed to get the car home and fixed the transmission by throwing it away. I swapped a manual in and never have had any issues. The job I had at the time required me to drive 800+ miles a week.