Transmission won't shift

Asked by Hairy Bacon Nov 23, 2019 at 07:39 PM about the 1996 Ford Explorer 4 Dr XLT 4WD SUV

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Boughta 1996 explorer with a rebuilt engine. Old owner had loaned it to a
buddy for a hunting trip and he treated the automatic transmission like a
manual. He
shifted through first second and drive the entire time. Transmission would go
into drive but wouldn't go above 2nd gear.

I replaced the valve body and solenoids and now it wont go into any gear. I
dont know what happened. I got new solenoids again and am going to be
putting them into the old valve body and putting it back in. The shifter
currently doesnt seem to lock into the gears. It kinda feels like its about to go
but then doesnt and i cant be sure it doesnt hit the detents right.

I have a feeling im looking at a trip to the salvage yard. I cant afford a rebuild
at this point in time. Anything I can look at beforehand?

2 Answers

103,215

Could've put undo strain/wear on the bands, clutches, gear sets, and who knows what shape tranny was in to begin with, given a 25 year old vehicle with a rebuilt motor. His driving technique almost certainly caused tranny to run hot, especially if he was maintaining normal or highway driving speeds in a lower gear. Newer cars/trucks will bump up to the next gear even if you've selected L or 1 or 2, when engine goes over a certain RPM precisely to prevent damage to engine/tranny. I don't think your 96 could do this, so he ran it in a low gear while cruising for extended periods of time it seems. You could test fluid pressure, or look for worn bands and/or clutches, as well as check for a burnt smell.

From what I was told he would shift it up when he decided the RPMs was high enough, as in a manual. I am not sure about highway speeds but almost a certainty. When I replaced the valve body before there was no burnt smell. Fluid was slightly darker then normal for what i would have expected to see. The old owner said it was changed under 3000 miles beforehand and I saw the paper work to back it up. The valve body I bought did say it was a factory updated version. I have no idea what they mean by that. When you go to shift it hits the detentes fine but the transmission itself doesnt go into gear. Have not gotten under it to see if it is actually manipulating the shift linkage on the transmission itself.

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