So we bought a wrecked 99 ranger from my boss (his son busted it up so he sold it to me for the scrap value) and I put it back together for my son to drive his senior year in HS. It had been in a front end wreck, replaced all the sheet metal forward of the doors and the entire front suspension, steering, control arms etc. Fortunately there was no damage to the drive train beyond the passenger steering knuckle.

The truck has somewhere just over 200K miles on it now. As far as we can tell, previous owners did not spend a great deal of time and money on preventative maintenance. Oil changes perhaps and that is about it. We did drain and replace all fluids (yes... even the trans). So for the last 8 months the truck has run just fine. No issues at all. Even power windows work.

This weekend, my son and some friends went camping, he got it stuck in some deep sand and somehow - lost first gear. His brother and I went and loaded it up on a trailer and brought it home late last night. If you put it into "2" it will move in 2nd. Has reverse etc. we did not drive it all over so "D" etc, we do not know about.

Now I am fairly handy with the tools but I think auto transmissions work on magic and you have to be a magician to work on one. Any thoughts? What might have broken? No obvious leaks. Is this something a slightly better than average home garage wrench can tackle or is this out of my league and we need to take it to the shop?

Thanks

 

Check for codes, this can give you a good starting point.

If there is damage to the case connector or if the transmission is unplugged it will start out in 4th, have manual 2nd and reverse. This is how it acts if there is no power to the tranny.

Check all fuses and it could even be a computer problem.

 

Well if that is all it is (loose wires or connections) then the young man may get to drive it again sooner than later.

I will dig into it tomorrow and report back what I learn.

Thanks!

 

First and Reverse come from the same drum. The first thing to do is check for metal in the oil if you are sure you have none you can look for valve problems.

 

Fluid looks fine (a bit old but does not smelled burned) no metal at all, he did ad 2 quarts of synthetic mercon ATF when it broke down (was low) is now correct.

Has 2nd and reverse only. Checked fuse and connections all good. Hooked up my cheapie OBD II scanner. No codes.

Question, "case connector" what is this? It is a new term to me

Thanks for the help thus far

 

Just in case it helps, here is the door sticker

 

The case connector is the main electrical connection at the transmission, its on the driver side just above the pan rail toward the bellhousing in between the two band adjustment screws.

It should set most if not all the codes for the electrical components inside the transmission if its disconnected. I have heard that some cheap scan tools may not be able to read transmission codes.

A scanner that has the capability of reading the data stream from the computer to the transmission can help here, you should be able to tell if the computer is controlling the transmission or not.

 

When you try to drive it in D does it just free wheel like neutral or does it move forward slowly like in a higher gear.

 

Maybe consider investing in a low cost ELM327 scantool discussed here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-scantool.html & run freeware FORScan that's tweaked for Fords, as it can query the tranny controller for trouble code clues.

 

D acts just like neutral

Also noted that the OD light does not deem to be doing anything

 

Yep, that sounds like a good investment

 

When you originally posted you haven't tried D yet.

Not pulling at all in D changes things, its not going to be electrical, something is broken. When you start off in 2nd can you shift it up into drive once you get going?

Its sounding like the low sprag has failed. This component is in the bottom of the case and would require a complete tear down to get to.

 

You are correct sir - when I originally posted, I had not looked at it at all yet. My other son had gone out with the trailer to pick him up but did not get home till 3am Sunday morning. I had to work Monday and had other obligations Monday evening. So last night was my first chance to check things out.

I had high hopes that it was a simple and inexpensive repair but now it does not sound like it. My son reports that the trans has been "acting up" a bit lately. Slipping some. Now why he felt it was a good idea to drive it 5 hrs to another state to go camping is beyond my grasp of understanding but then again - I have given up trying to understand his reasoning at times like this. He is now with out wheels until he heads off to basic training later this fall. I am not spending 1/2 the value of the truck to fix it so instead... The young man is now begging for rides from his pals.

Anyone interested in a 99 ranger with about 210k miles - thrashed auto but everything else works just fine. 4.0L, 4X4, AC, PW, PL....

 

It might not be relevant to your 99 Ford Trans issue, but my 99 Ford Trans, 3.0L super cab, has a damaged cable that indicates that the trans is in D when it actually is in neutral. Putting the shifter in the next lowest detent puts the trans actually in Drive. There's a cheap plastic part under the dash that breaks. Reverse is indicated as N.

My thoughts on replacing and repairing the trans yourself is that a cheaper alternative would be to buy a used good trans at a junkyard and replace that with the damaged one.

Hopefully it turns out that it's the cable and not the trans.

 

Hi everybody, that´s my first time in here. My name is Andre Brennand and I´m form Brazil. I´m hoping to get some help to fix the transmission of my Explorer 97 XLT 4x4 AWD control track. Unfortunately, I drove it some time with low level of transmission oil due to leaking (gasket). The transmission started to work strange (intermittent clutching) but became normal after just filling the oil up (Mercon V). After nearly 2 months working fine the problem appeared. It takes some time (2-3 minutes at 3000-5000 rpm) to start going forward from N to D (or 1st/2nd). Once it starts going forward the transmission works fine. The valve body (the one with solenoids) was cleaned; oil (Mercon V) and filter were changed but the problem persists. The rear is working fine. Any advice will be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance, André.