Have a really good 96 explorer that's paid for and does all I need

Getting to be time for a new transmission. I didn't see new ones anywhere so guess it's rebuild.

We are way rural so no shops here that I would trust.

Old one has well over 300k on it bit torque converter is starting to act up. It's my primary fire ems work vehicle so I don't wAnt to toss junk in there

Any suggestions. I can swap the units myself on a weekend easy enough so it's simply source one.

I suspect my engine will be next on the list to if u have any suggestions on that also

Thanks. Jeff

E4OD transmission?

All right! We've gotten through the question and one reply without anyone dragging sexual deviants into the discussion.

Haven't stopped to look yet. Re which one. To much medical,school, work,deer season and working on the samurai at the lease. Lol

Will try to check Monday

Are u suggesting drop a few Viagra in w the fluid and all will be fine? Lol

Better off finding a used Toyota to trade it on. Magnum man

better off with anything other then a toyota

pour a bottle of lucas trans treatment in it.

Let's try to stay on topic here. No trading. This is what I have and am going to do

I see no fault in a vehicle running at a bit over 350k with original engine and transmission.

But to make u happy we do own a Toyota that gets worse mph than the explorer. Lol

That's a lot of miles for an Explorer.

V-8 or 4.0 V-6? 4x4?

Replacement motor and trans, I just can't see putting that money into a 20 year old exploder..

I had one rebuilt for my Ranger last year,and it cost me $1400.That included a new converter,and he had it done in two days.I could have done a used trans myself,but they are real buggers,and aint cheap.You have very little room,and the transfer case,and cross members to deal with,and I'm thinking that you have to raise the body a few inches off the frame.A used transmission will probably have high miles,and could fail soon too..If you carry good oil pressure,and don't burn oil ,I wouldn't worry about the motor,but if your motor is showing signs of trouble.I would sale it now as a fixer upper to someone that may enjoy working on them..

Or toss a few cups of saw dust in there. :>)

The first thing that came to mind was a rebuild direct from Ford, Link here.
No personal experience, just an option.
Good luck!

Seriously, the rig is worth about 500-700 dollars, is it worth putting 1k or more on a tranny? I would scrap or part it out and buy a new rig.

Well, it took awhile, but we finally got a sexual deviant worked into the discussion.

I would fix it my self....you know what you have then...and I hate payments..rather buy guns...

I think it's a matter of pride and has nothing to do with cost guys. Just think how many of you have driven a car/suv 500,000 miles.
Rost lives in a small town, no junk yards for big parts.

Which one of you guys know of a good place to order a tranmission for this Ford to keep it on the road.

I've heard good things about Jasper transmissions.

QUEEEEEEEEEEERS!!!!

There. Fixed it for ya.

Before you rebuild, try putting a tube or two of "Dr. Tranny Instant Shudder Fix" down the dipstick tube.

This stuff is no joke. The crappy GM tranny on my BMW started giving me problems with about 130k on the odometer. Put in two tubes of this, and it felt like a new tranny for another 30k miles. It started to act up again. Drained out some fluid, added another tube, and again, another 30k problem free miles.

Now with 205k miles on it, it seems time to have the tranny re-done finally. But I definitely got another 60k out of it that I otherwise am certain I would not have.

Good grief - four in one post!

You really have two options I think.

-you can either go with a local rebuild of your own �.if there is a reliable re-builder somewhere not too distant.

- or, for usually a higher price, you can order a factory rebuilt (with exchange)

The latter will probably have a significantly lengthier warranty period so the extra coin isn't necessarily wasted.

If you're paying to have the transmission pulled/replaced, then the latter starts to look even better in the overall cost involved.

(FWIW, we did a NAPA acquired factory rebuild last year on our 15 year-old vehicle rather than a local simply because we were already into it for a fair chunk after towing and getting the bleeding tranny removed. No regrets.)

had good luck with these guys http://www.certifiedtransmission.com/

the shop that put ours in left the tranny coolent lines improperly connected. these guys still sent out a new trans and took care of it. I can't tell you how many times I have seen rebuilt trannies go bad AGAIN. often times when its a warranty situation they duct tape and bailing wire it just long enough to get past the warranty if you have a problem during the warranty period. I actually think an auto trans is one of the most difficult things for a repair shop to get rebuilt the right way.

I swear to you this is the best stuff ever made. I had a 1/2 ton box chevy that wouldnt move it was slipping so bad. A bottle of Lucas and it went for almost 2 more years. Every Demo derby guy i know ont go to the fair without it in the trans........... If you gotta have a new one get a Jasper and don't look back.

V6 no 4x4. Y'all can quit with the buy another vehicle stuff. I spend that on Alaska every year. Who really cares what it's worth if it's solid and drives. 6000 spent on it is cheaper than 30,000 for a new one.
I'm not vain enough to worry about what I drive.
Now if it was a lemon....

V6 no 4x4. Y'all can quit with the buy another vehicle stuff. I spend that on Alaska every year. Who really cares what it's worth if it's solid and drives. 6000 spent on it is cheaper than 30,000 for a new one.
I'm not vain enough to worry about what I drive.
Now if it was a lemon....

It's your money, but a fellow can go broke trying to save money. With that many miles and years it is only a matter of time before something else goes.



Unles someone rear ends you 2 weeks after you spend the $6K and the insurance company writes you a check for $600. It is never a good idea to put more than 50% of a vehicles value into repairs. If I could pour a bottle of something in the transmission and get a few more miles out of it fine. I'd drive it as is until it quits and then sell it to a scrap yard.

Or a guy could just take the transmission money and buy 1/2 dozen old Explorers and be set for life with parts. Have a little mini Explorer junkyard out back. Maybe use a couple for deer blinds?

It would be beyond crazy to spend all the time and money on keeping the OP's Explorer going for another 20-30 years but hey, it ain't my time or money!


We just had the transmission replaced on a 1974 IH farm truck.
Found all kinds of sources on the internet.

Transmission(used, hope it's functional...) was about $600, shipping was another $300-400.


Compare that to replacing the transmission on an '08 F350 which was around $4000.

4 good tires and a pro brake hob would cost more than that thing is worth. If you put jasper engine and transin at 6k thats 10 $600 payments. If it costs him $1200 a year in repairs thats $100 a month. If the bodys solid and everything else is good its not as dump as might seem. If you do it make sure that you use their install kit and think about anything that will cause problems that you now have access to, starter alt....

If all it needs is a transmission, then a used or rebuilt can fix it and he can continue to use it with satisfaction.

My dad had an old F-250 that he was sinking $3-600 a month into just to keep running... Not to mention the aggravation of it dying wherever it choses. I finally told him he would be better off just going in and getting a new truck. He said "I don't want the payments!".... I asked him what he thought he had now, keeping the old one running?

He went and got the new truck.

Sometimes it's a wise move to just fix what's wrong, and sometimes it isn't.

Cool thing here. U get so much more than U ask for

I got enough now. Jasper or ford.

I do all my maintenance so that's a done deal. I would not be keeping a vehicle that cost a lot to keep going. Ie lemon

I doubt I put 500 a year in it.

As to wreck costs if u think we are paying anything other than liability on an old one you are nuts. No check if it's hurt.

Junkyard of parts. Lol. I guess we just do things a bit different than most

With 300K on the motor, I'd do them both at the same time if I could afford it, if not, find a quality rebuild with a new torque converter. I replaced a front seal, pump & torque converter on a E4OD a couple years ago. It's not that difficult. I'd suggest finding an extra pair of hands to help with the actual removal and again when you stick the new one back in. When you do it, go ahead & replace the mounts. If you just do the transmission, make sure you put a support on the rear of the engine or you may screw up your engine mounts.

A quality transmission jack is worth the cost.


ETA: Put all your bolts, nuts/hardware you remove in a container so they don't get scattered around. If you also pull the engine, keep those parts separate from the tranny stuff...

Yeah, you get the opinions with no personal knowledge of the entire situation. Monday morning quarterbacking at it's finest.

www.car-part.com

If you can change it yourself I'd go with a factory rebuilt transmission (which has a better warranty than you'll find anywhere else) and a heavy duty after market torque convertor. The factory rebuilt transmission has ALL new internal parts, the case is the only thing that's not new. Also use synthetic trans fluid.

When I was much younger, I once tore a cooling line off & lost most of the fluid...had to use water to get back to civilization.

Sonny Pistole rebuilt two trannys for me and did excellent work for very reasonable cost. Unfortunately they only do standards. I'd call them and ask them who they'd recommend in the Austin area.

One of my friend's had his Silverado 1500 4x4 done by Adam's Automotive & Transmissions in Pflugerville. It was cheap($1100 total) and worked for a couple of years until he got in a wreck that totaled it.

http://www.summitracing.com/?gclid=CLfq1KTg_8ECFQaUfgod0nAAEw
best place and free shipping

I've watched a few videos on how to rebuild an auto trans ... the right way ... and it takes some very specialized (and trans specific) equipment to do it right.

In particular it involved pressure testing the valve thingamajiggies inside the possessed demon box.

When I need to replace the trans in my Chevy I'm going with a GM rebuilt. They have factory trained priests that perform an exorcism and bless the transmission before it leaves the shop.

by all means synthetic.

It sat all weekend and was cold/cool. Reverse just grinded while ago.... Drive is just fine. Just what it did a week ago when it got really cold.

Will have to get on top of this I guess.

Would do the engine right now but simply don't have the extra time, because that takes a bit longer, plus rounding up all the new extra good goodies that happen when you do a motor... Alt/ps, etc....that all need to be new and good...

Still leaning towards ford factory and in the meantime may pour some goop in...

Jeff

FWIW

4R55E

I don't know your specifics, but when was the last time you changed the filter?

More of the "more than u asked for" BUT the aftermarket such as jasper will sometimes beef up problem parts that the oem does not. Just sayin.

This^^^ and fluids. Sounds like moisture in fluid.

I do all the work on it, can't recall taking it into a shop so I do keep track...

appx 10K miles ago it was due for its change, fluids and filter. It was done.

Right now going to pour a bit of additive in while searching for the transmission and just keep rolling.

Fairly sure I could replace the torque converter and one solenoid inside and be fine, but why pull something with that many miles on it.. and not replace it with as close to brand new as you can.

That ain't more, thats the stuff I"m after... if Jasper puts out a better reman than Ford, thats what I want to know.

My BIL was a ford mechanic for a long time, then a mechanic for a power plant until retirement and he just put in a Jasper and was not at all happy with it... but as we all know... YMMV

Have a shop for 35yrs and we like Jasper for engines and trans. Good nationwide warranty. We do put a few factory ones in also.

i couldn't tell you specifics on your vehicle, but when vehicles have weak parts the aftermarket will beef them up and the oems seem to not care. Plus sometimes the fault will show after time and the aftermarket gets to see it but oem has quit production and you get old parts or original spec

I never ought a jasper tranny, but I have had bad luck with there engines. I work for a tranny rebuild shop and we have some good builders that take there job seriously but IMO, the real test is on the dyno. Some companies want there techs to pussy foot the dyno some want a real run. Our guys work the crap out of them, any questions and fail, goes to repair.

We don't sell 4R55's anymore, we mostly deal with Allison's but I have learned to either have the best shop you can afford to rebuild it or buy the best reman you can.

Looks like we are getting into the typical Chebby- ford argument.

I wasn't trying to start anything like that. I was just trying to say that there's more than just putting a tranny together.

Besides, fords rule.

They'll claim that they were born that way.

Well that's a positive solution... thanks for giving us all that little insight into your life...

but back on topic...a rebuilt motor and trans combo might be the way to go.. do it all at one time, have it assembled outside the vehicle and then just drop it in and connect all that needs to be connected...

Check on line to see what ATK offers... last I looked into them, you could get an engine and tranny with a 7 year 100K warranty, for a fairly decent price...

and yeah, ATK, the same company that owns Speer, RCBS, Federal etc...

http://www.atkvege.com/content/

and feel free to ignore any 'advise' from the Frisco Kid...

I was actually in the a similar situation a couple of years back.

I had a 2002 Ford Explorer which may have been the worst built American car in the last 20 years.

The overdrive took a dump and car wouldn't shift on its own unless you let off the gas. Took it to Ford to have them flush the tranny, it made it worse.

Turns out is was the solenoids inside the tranny that were bad but they sold after market kits you could buy with special tools for about $200 to fix it.

But during my research, I learned alot about transmission rebuilds - I'm convinced the best transmission rebuild is taking it to a shop and you going over specifically what you want done.

Everyone assumes that a tranny rebuild is replacing worn parts, seals,etc, but what is considered worn by you may not be by the rebuilder - and you have a potential fail point 30K down the road again.

Also read about buying rebuilt tranny's from places like Auto-Zone. They sell a brand that has a decent warranty- until you actually try to get warranty work done.

Another vote for Jasper if you go the reman route. They do upgrade weak spots when they rebuild stuff. They also stand behind their products with a great national warranty.

For example, some years ago, during my days of being a parts store counterman (those were dark days, indeed), we had sold a reman 302 v8 for a Crown Vic to one of our regular technician customers. Some months after the motor swap the tech came by the store and let us know there was trouble with the motor making some unwanted noise. We called Jasper while, simultaneously, the tech dove into the engine to find the trouble.

He found a broken rocker arm, and luckily, no other secondary damage. He let us know he'd be happy with new replacement rocker arm and valve cover gasket and a small labor claim. Jasper said nope, pull the motor send it back and we'll send you a new (reman) motor and full labor allowance including new fluids. They even fast tracked delivery and had it there the next day, (normally it took 2 or 3 days to get something from them). That's a good way to treat your customers.

Over the time behind the counter I had the chance to sell around 1/2 a dozen different brands of motors and transmissions and, by far, had the least trouble from Jasper products, and even when we did they never gave us a hard time on warranties.

Hilarious. How do you find the best shop when you live in a town of under 4500. WEll thats the closest town and the one I work in. We do have one now, a shop that is, but I wouldn't trust those SOBs on a bet...

IF I knew of a trustworthy shop I"d yank it and run it by.

At this point I'm back to a toss up between Jasper and Ford.

Found out last night the issues my BIL had with Jasper may not be issues, might be the fact there were other issues along with the transmission at the same time, like replace both computers too...