Transmission shifts into neutral after a hard turn

[Art L]

I have a 98 Explorer Sport, 4.0 SOHC, Auto Trans, with 77K miles on the odo. This winter I noticed on really cold days I'd occasionally get a "clunk" on an upshift (slow speed or high). Didn't think much of it cause it was pretty infrequent and I assumed it was cold related.

This morning as I was driving to work I came to a full stop on a side street just down the road from work. I took a hard right onto a larger street that leads to my building entrance. As I accelerated from stop (while turning right) l heard a more pronounced "clunk" than I'd previously heard.

Then I'm on the main drag and not going anyplace. The engine is reving, the gear selector window shows the truck is in Drive but the truck is not moving. I depressed the O/D button to take it out of O/D .. nothing. Next I pulled the shift lever into 2nd and I'm back in business and the car is moving. Then I shifted it back into Drive and all is fine .. moving and shifting normally.

I pull into the building driveway (easy right) and things are still fine. Then I get to the rows of parked cars and take a hard left into a row .. once again I'm back in neutral. I select 2nd again and things are fine.

Anybody got a clue what's up ? BTW - The O/D light is not flashing.

I called the dealer and made an appointment to bring it in day after tommorow (assuming it doesn't get worse before then). This dealer has been good in the past so it's not that I don't trust em .. it's just a case where having a little knowledge on my part .. up front .. can't hurt.

Thanks to anyone who replies..

 

[Howard]

At a guess I'd say that the gear selector linkage wants adjusting. It's probably right on the limit. In other-words when you select drive it is only just in drive and very close to neutral. A small adjustment and you should be fine. Cause possibly the cable has stretched slightly.

 

[A Wise Guy]

How are your motor mounts?

 

[RiverRat]

I agree, the motor and tranny mounts could cause your concern.

 

[Art L]

follow up on my original post

As it turns out the problem I'm having isn't as weird as I first thought. It showed up just as I was pulling into work yesterday morning and I didn't have much time to fool around with it.

At first I thought it was related to making a hard turn right or left. Well actually it was .. but not for the reason I thought. When I make a hard turn right or left I slow down to a crawl .. and the transmission tries to shift down into First gear .. which isn't there anymore.

It appears my real problem is that I totally lost First gear. I can shift into Sceond and start off then put it into drive .. once up to speed and things are fine. But from a stop or very slow speed I can't use Drive or First gear even when I manually select it.

I guess the good news is the Dealer won't have a difficult time diagnosing the problem. The bad news is I bet it's a big $$$ fix. 8-(

 

[TPLYNCH]

There are several posts about "no first gear". On the 5R55E, it may just be the valve body is bad, and seals are leaking. There are tsb's about this problem.