Noise in 1st Gear

[dmonwai]

I have a 2000 EB Explorer with the SOHC 4.0 engine and 112000 miles on it. The tranny was last serviced about 25000 miles ago. I drive it everyday for work and tow a small boat with it several times a month. The boat/trailer weighs about 2500 lbs.

The tranny is making a whirling/howling noise in 1st gear only. The noise increases in pitch until it shifts into 2nd. From 2nd on there is no noise at all, it shifts fine also. If I start in 2nd gear then there is no noise.

I have it a shop and they checked it out then called and said they will have to take it apart to check out 1st gear. They said that if its all apart they might as well rebuilt it instead of just replacing the bad parts, that makes sense to me but I'm not familiar with how auto trannys come apart or how much has to come apart to get to the 1st gear area. They have quoted me $1800 for the rebuild.

It obviously seems like its 1st gear because the noise goes away after it shifts into 2nd.

Does the tranny have to come all apart to get to 1st gear? Are there other things it could be that would not need it to come all apart and rebuilt it?

Hopefully something that won't cost as much as rebuilding it. Or is just time to rebuild it because it has 112000 miles on it with a lot of those miles towing a boat.

How bad or good are these trannys for towing purposes? I've had people say that the Explorer trannys are bad for towing, that they can't handle it and break a lot. But most of these people don't have first hand experience or had it happen to them once and then claim it will happen to everyone.

Thanks,
Damon
Seattle WA

 

[BrooklynBay]

It is true that the transmission is the weakest part of the Explorer. Have you checked your transmission fluid level? Maybe it is a little low. Towing does put a heavy strain on the drive train components, so it is possible that there might be some sort of internal damage. Do you have this noise only when it is cold, or even after it warms up?

 

[dmonwai]

Fluid level is ok.

It does not matter if it warm or cold, when it makes the noise.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[BrooklynBay]

One thing I was curious about was if it makes any strange noise while it is idling?

 

[dmonwai]

No noise while idling.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I once had this problem on my A4LD after I rebuilt it. It made this noise mainly when it was idling. After a week, the transmission went dead. It was a defective torque converter. Another time after this, it was the front pump gears.

 

[dmonwai]

Its kind of weird, it only makes noise in 1st gear while driving. No noise at idle, no noise after it shifts out of 1st gear. All the other gears sound fine and shift fine.

I think I'll let them tear it apart to see what they find.

Thanks,
Damon

 

[BrooklynBay]

I'm wondering if it might be some oil restriction in either the valve body, or in a shift solenoid.

 

[Glacier991]

There is a TSB on noise caused by the separator plate.. not sure if it affects you but you might check Alldata. Or call your Ford service writer. I recall it was a whistling noise.