transmission/transfer case problem??

[tmatt007]

hey im new to the site but i figured to give it a try. im hoping for some help troubleshooting my 99 explorer XLT. its the 4.0 v-6 SOHC 4wd with the 5R55E tranny with 205K. so heres my problem:

the o/d light started flashing at me and an awful grinding noise would start whenever i was deccelerating downhill or whenever i put it into reverse. i took it into a repair shop to have the code diagnoised. they told me it was the "explorer death code" and that basically there was no 3rd gear anymore. so i ponied up the money to have a rebuilt done (by another shop specializing in tranny rebuilds).... however, the problem is not fixed. still the awful grinding noise going downhill and going into reverse. in fact the only way to go in reverse is if i put the transfer case into 4-low.

any help/thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. this problem has me scratching my head and wondering what other options to consider. thanks!!!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! It's the transfer case.

 

[AzRanger5.0]

I had the same problem and it turned out to be the transfer case shift motor. Crawl under, take it off, and see if the shaft is in the correct position. The end of the shaft kinda has a triangular shape and the "point" will point to a letter cast into the case. If it is not all the way to the right position it will grind when trying to go in reverse, and when you put it in park it will make an additional grinding noise as the tranny pawl tries to stop the ouput shaft of the tranny which has been spinning relatively freely since the transfer case is effectively in nuetral.

I replaced the shift motor in mine and it took care of it. The motor itself was good, it was the position sensor on the end that was not letting the computer know where the shifter (transfer case shaft thingy) was.