transmission issue

[Gmedic]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum, signing up after receiving a 97 Explorer Sport (4.0 SOHC) as a gift. I had the chance to drive it for 3 days without any issues on street and highway. Today, while driving with my family, the truck felt fine and shifted perfectly then suddenly I lost the drive gears. The vehicle remained on but would not "take" any gear-not even reverse. I noticed a mild rattling noise from the undercarriage when any gear besides Park or Neutral was selected (automatic transmission).-I towed the vehicle home-inspected the Trans fluid = seems clean no particles, and checked for visible leaks, loose hoses etc. and found nothing. About two hours later, I'm telling my friend about it and started the vehicle--and the vehicle is fine. No rattles, shifting perfectly and confusing me even more. Can someone please point me in the right direction to what may be the issue? Any help is appreciated. BTW -Great site-lots of info and ideas.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! How many miles do you have? You could have an intermittent pressure drop causing the lack of engagement issue. This could be caused by a number of things, such as loose valve body bolts, bad valve body gaskets, defective EPC solenoid, binding boost valve, stuck spools in the valve body, clogged filter or cooler, bad pump gears, etc.

 

[Gmedic]

Thanks for the reply BrooklynBay. Will start to look into those items-Hopefully it something simple.Once again Thank You.