Reverse band busted?

[daveace]

Hello all, this is my first time here and looking forword to joining in. I have a 1999 explorer sport and today as I put the truck in reverse I heard a loud bang and then no more reverse. All my forword gears are working SO FAR anyway. Does anyone have any idea as to what may have gone wrong?

 

[alohamonte]

same exact thing happened to mine. reverse, boom, then nothing. just forward gears.

you might have better luck posting the transmissions section of the site if youre interested in doing the repairs yourself.

i brought it to a trans shop asked them to fix just what was wrong with it (reverse band or servos or whatevers) and they said it needed a full rebuild. of course thats what they said friggn thieves.

if you go the trans rebuild route be sure to take the time to vet out the shop and be sure they give you a detailed writeup on all the work - make sure the rebuild includes all service upgrades - get a least a 1 year parts+labor warrenty as well.

 

[daveace]

Thank you very much for your reply. I just had the tranny rebuilt last year and cost me $1500. i will look for the tranny section. again ty

 

[my98nnj]

Thank you very much for your reply. I just had the tranny rebuilt last year and cost me $1500. i will look for the tranny section. again ty

It should still be under warranty, no??

 

[Steeda90GT]

This happened to be about 4 yrs ago. Reverse band went boom when backing up one day. Shop quoted me $900 to just pull the trans and fix on that issue, or $1500 for a complete rebuild with a 1 yr parts/labor warranty. Obviously I went with the latter since it was the original trans with 100k.

I would take yours back as it should still be under warranty.

 

[daveace]

Already tried, IT is 1yr 2months. go figure

 

[alohamonte]

you guys are getting inexpensive rebuilds. when mine xploded i called a dozen shops and even visisted a few to see the facility, and the best ones with 20+ years experience and install all the updates all charged nearly the same about $2100-2200.

the shops that charged less, $1500-1900, did less. they might have kept the same torque convertor, used cheap parts/gaskets, and basically cut corners in order to get the price down. salvaged as many gaskets and hard parts as they could.

With a $1500 job, they prob just replaced the bare minimum to get the thing going and get you out the parking lot. they probably fixed the band but not the underlying problems that caused it to break in the first place. a year sounds about right in that situation.

side note, i wonder if its more cost effective to buy a new, complete trans than to rebuild the busted one.

 

[robw4242]

I had the same thing happen to me a year ago. I had my tranny rebuilt, but it was done through AAMCO. charged me $1600 but the tranny was rebuilt with high performance parts ( I assume non-ford ) and the work was guarenteed for 5 years, even though they said it would last far longer than that. definately check out different shops and see what exactly they are going to do in ways of work. good luck.

 

[Facimeor]

I can pretty much guarranty you the reverse band broke. Its common and well documented. Shops will charge quite a bit to do the teardown and replace but if you have any decent mechanical expertise you can do it yourself for FAR cheaper.

I had never been inside an auto trans before in my life and I just repaired mine from my 98 that had the same thing happen. The band itself is only about $12 and a gasket/seal kit is only about $60. I recommend while in there to go ahead and replace all 3 bands (I didnt, but think I should have), do the D-ring upgrade on the reverse servo, and get the new bonded separator plate/gasket for the valve body.

Here was my struggle: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=310539

Here is the FSM for the disassembly:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=285161
(note: thats for the 4R but they are mechanically identical)

This rebuild diary from an A4LD is useful for the pictures and a good read before going into the trans yourself:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=146956

and here is the specifics on repairing the valve body while you are in there, which you only need to do some of:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=140987

having done the job myself I can tell you the taking apart and putting back together of the trans was the easiest part of the job. Getting the trans out took me far longer.

 

[daveace]

Thanks for the info Im pretty good with a wrench but have always been afraid of automatic trannys. But hey I think I will give It a try. If worse comes to worse i just have to take it in. Again thanks for the great info. I will keep you all informed of my progress.

 

[Steeda90GT]

Already tried, IT is 1yr 2months. go figure

Crappy luck Im sorry.

Maybe they will goodwill some/part of the expense since you're a good customer? A good, quality rebuild should be trouble free for more than 1yr & 2 months...

If they dont do anything for you, I would suggest finding a different mechanic. One that will do the repair right.

 

[Steeda90GT]

you guys are getting inexpensive rebuilds. when mine xploded i called a dozen shops and even visisted a few to see the facility, and the best ones with 20+ years experience and install all the updates all charged nearly the same about $2100-2200.

the shops that charged less, $1500-1900, did less. they might have kept the same torque convertor, used cheap parts/gaskets, and basically cut corners in order to get the price down. salvaged as many gaskets and hard parts as they could.

With a $1500 job, they prob just replaced the bare minimum to get the thing going and get you out the parking lot. they probably fixed the band but not the underlying problems that caused it to break in the first place. a year sounds about right in that situation.

side note, i wonder if its more cost effective to buy a new, complete trans than to rebuild the busted one.

They quoted $900 just to fix the reverse band problem, $1500 got me a complete rebuild/teardown with new tq converter and new parts. It definitely wasn't a bare minimum job.

IMHO - these are probably bare minimum rebuilds:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Still not bad though. $699 for a remanufactured trans, covered for 24 months.