Transmission trouble with a 96 Ford Explorer Sport?

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BJ_1985

New member
I have a 96 Ford Explorer that although was in slightly rough shape, ran well enough until about a month ago. After a day or two of the transmission feeling like it was slipping a little bit, the truck stopped responding in D, 2nd, and 1st gear. It functioned fine in reverse. In Drive it essentially does nothing, makes no noises, movement, etc. I had a mechanic come look at it, he said it was shifting into the gears properly, and suggested we start by doing a basic service on it to see if that resolved the issue, he was also going to clean a/the valve component of the transmission. His price was fair enough, but he admitted he did not know if that would resolve it. So I held off until I got my Uncle's opinion (who did a decent amount of wrenching sometime ago) he felt that perhaps the drive clutch(es) could have gone out on it, saying that the clutches they use in newer models are fairly soft, and so don't make a lot of noise or give a lot of warning when they go.

Interestingly enough, as I was looking for another car (weighing dumping money into this vehicle or buy a new one) I saw a 95 Explorer that had a similar issue, only it would drive, but not go into reverse. Seeing as this may be a common issue now, I wondered if someone with experience might give me their thoughts on what could be causing this issue and how best to handle it? Thanks in advance.
 
sounds like the problem your uncle said. sounds like your clutches have gone out and that's you're problem. however if it seemed like it was slipping "a bit" it should've been slipping "a lot" if those clutches were going out espeically in all your foward gears. however if you're thinking about buying another vehicle a suggestion would be if you can drive one get yourself a manual. yes they're a hassel in the city if you don't like shifting and yes the clutches wear out. but it's a lot cheaper to replace a clutch than drop a new auto into a vehicle and a manual will out last an auto by a substancial amount even if you are shifting without the clutch which tears up the syncornizers in the transmission. but anyway sounds like the clutches have gone out to me.
 
Sounds like your clutch plates have finally given up. Tranny overhaul. Reverse still works because how often do you drive in reverse? Rarely. Depends which plates fail whether you lose the drive or reverse function.

What does your tranny fluid look like? Burned smell? Brown? That's the clutch plate material. Small bits of metal in the pan is normal as long as it's not more than a very small amount (about the amount of salt you'd put on your meals).
 
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