Suddenly NO gear engagement on 02 4.0 EB! son left lights on and keys inside; jimmied door and trans is "missing"!

[mbed]

Greetings all!

Odd series of events. My 02 has 296k mi (second engine) and had trans rebuilt maybe 120-150k back. Son is back from college and didn't know how to turn off lights, thinking they were automatic. Battery fully drained, locked with keys inside. Called AAA to jimmy the lock using the blow up wedge and the long reach tool.

Until now, truck was running relatively well with only issue was no light showed up for 4WD High when starting and slight(?) EGR flow issue. MPG was tolerable and it seemed rust would be what would do the vehicle in.

So now, after using a jump box from AAA, got started, ran for a bit and decided to back out the driveway (slight downhill slope). Put in R and went out to street. Put in Drive and nothing! back to reverse, all low gears and no feeling whatsoever of any connection between trans and engine!

Also noted the 4WD Low light is now on and cannot shift out of it. Pushed it in neutral to curb and when putting in park, heard a major grinding / whirring sound that stopped within a few seconds.

Anyone know what could have happened?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[donalds]

Low trans fluid
Or a broken band

 

[Turdle]

Check fuses. Transmission fuse under hood

 

[410Fortune]

Yes okay so

To shift in and out of low
Truck must be stopped
Truck must be in neutral (not park)
Then it will shift
Maybe noise you heard maybe the trasnfer case motor finally shifting?

If you are down on transmission fluid the truck will not engage any gears and all of a sudden

Any leaks under the truck around the trans or radiator? Trans fluid is red

Who rebuilt the transmission?
There is no transmission dipstick on a 2002 explorer so checking / adding fluid it a little tricky

 

[mbed]

Hi, all,

Thanks for the responses! An update is the battery didn't really old a charge in the morning so I charged it overnight. The battery is new-ish (perhaps 6 months, new AAA premier battery). I haven't put it in yet but regarding the above suggestions:

haven't checked the fluid since the rebuild which was done at a cottman (if i recall correctly) near here. (I know the fluid checking is a pain to do correctly which is probably why i haven't done it!)

I have shifted into 4 low in the past but no response when I tried to do it now. The 4 hi light stopped coming on when starting engine for a while now and never had a chance to determine whether the shift motor or the solenoid.

didn't see any apparent transmission fluid leaks ...

@Turdle : I was unaware of a specific transmission fuse. where would I find it? (4.0 SOHC early build EB)

I will put freshly charged battery in and see what happens

Thanks again!

 

[Turdle]

Owners manual has fuse diagram. Or google. 2 for transfer case , 1 for trans. Under hood. Fuse 37 15a. That's what the Google just told me

 

[mbed]

Charged battery started truck right up but still no transmission activity. I made two videos showing a few weird things going on:
-moving sheft lever through all gears has speedo showing some drift, even up to an apparent ~20-25 mph without any movement or sound whatsoever



-weird whirring/ rinding sound on putting it into park

 

[Turdle]

Engine running, Shift trans to neutral, then switch 4x4 switch thru modes and back to auto. The grinding indicates the transfer case is between lo and hi range.

 

[mbed]

Owners manual has fuse diagram. Or google. 2 for transfer case , 1 for trans. Under hood. Fuse 37 15a. That's what the Google just told me

Initially thought there may be a large fuse somewhere on the trans itself not the fuse box. Sorry to have you look up something I should have...thanks again!

PS-I posted a few videos showing the current behavior...

Hi, all,

Thanks for the responses! An update is the battery didn't really old a charge in the morning so I charged it overnight. The battery is new-ish (perhaps 6 months, new AAA premier battery). I haven't put it in yet but regarding the above suggestions:

haven't checked the fluid since the rebuild which was done at a cottman (if i recall correctly) near here. (I know the fluid checking is a pain to do correctly which is probably why i haven't done it!)

I have shifted into 4 low in the past but no response when I tried to do it now. The 4 hi light stopped coming on when starting engine for a while now and never had a chance to determine whether the shift motor or the solenoid.

didn't see any apparent transmission fluid leaks ...

@Turdle : I was unaware of a specific transmission fuse. where would I find it? (4.0 SOHC early build EB)

I will put freshly charged battery in and see what happens

Thanks again!

one more thing...inserting the ignition key was very difficult according to my son. It had been a bit wonky a couple of weeks ago when parked at angle against curb. Mostly usable other times but sometimes a bit difficult to put in by me as well. Wonder if shift lever / steering column / igniiton cylinder are causing this?

 

[mbed]

Engine running, Shift trans to neutral, then switch 4x4 switch thru modes and back to auto. The grinding indicates the transfer case is between lo and hi range.

tried this....sadly without success. Still not a sign of transmission engagement. Will have to call around next week to ask local tranny shops...still open to other suggestions here though!

Thanks again to all!
PS-Happy New Year

 

[mbed]

Also hooked up my laptop with forscan and no codes at all!

 

[mbed]

Also hooked up my laptop with forscan and no codes at all!

Forgot to update y'all! After chatting with a local trans shop, he was certain the trans was running based on speedometer movement but the transfer case wasn't engaging. Suggested checking the transfer case shift position to see if it was in neutral, which it was. I replaced it with a dorman unit and all is well!