Explorer Trouble in France !!!!

[jcasey007]

Hi All

I'm on holiday in France at the Moment with the Family, towing a camper, During the first day over here (20 hours travelling covering 900 miles) the EX started a very strange noise when lifting off the throttle (downhill)

I have tracked the noise down to the gearbox (autobox) when I'm using engine braking it sounds like a turbine spinning up. as soon as I but my foot down it stops.

So if anybody can help what I need to know is :

a) What has broken?
b) Can I fix it / replace it without taking the gearbox out? (and I can get a bit!)
c) is it terminal ? - we have 2 weeks away and then the return trip.

at the moment I have all forward and reverse gears (and have had for 500 miles), I'm not losing oil. and all gears shift as normal.

I'm able to stop the noise by left foot braking downhill, good job I just replaced all the brakes..


I'm in an internet cafe at present but I can get emails via blackberry so I can see answers back.

BTW apart from the 'minor' gearbox issue the car is running great!

cheers all


Jim C

 

[PHaTGRoB]

Jim. Surely it's unlikely to be the gearbox if it's working fine in all gears, shifting as normal and the noise disappears on application of the brakes. However, I can't think of anything that would sound like a turbine spinning up though. If applying the brakes stops the noise, I'd be looking in that area but I can't hear the noise. Do the brakes work as normal? Hope the holiday is good in spite of this. GRoB

 

[mrboyle]

Common problem with the transfer case in the '97 Explorer. Will work fine accelerating and at constant speed, but when you let off the gas it makes a ratcheting sound. Easiest fix is to replace the case with a used one (find one from a '98-'01 if you can). Haven't had any luck trying to repair one. Not sure how long it will last if you continue to drive with it the way it is. It could survive the entire trip, I dont know?

 

[jcasey007]

Thanks Mr Boyle

I count this as good news !

Yes I would say it is a ratcheting sound when using the engine for braking.

The more I release the throttle (to slow down) the louder and faster the ratcheting is.

My initial thoughts when it happened was that it was related to vacuum as the more 'vacuum' I thought it was generating the faster the sound.

Do you know what has broken in the transfer case? (i'm curious)

cheers, off to the beach again

jim

 

[mrboyle]

I know that the little nylon feet on the shift fork wear/break off and don't allow the fork to properly engage. This causes excessive wear on other parts of the case, eventually causing it to do what your case is doing. I'm sure the case can be rebuilt but it will likely be expensive. Not to sure how easy it is to find used parts over there, but a used later model case will likely be cheaper.