I have a friend who just got a 2002 Explorer from his ex, and he is having some problems with it. It is an automatic, and it shifts HARD into third when the transmission is warm, and the suspension on the driverside front sounds like there is no oil in it. He would like to know if there is a way to fix this short of replacing the parts. Thanks for the help.

 

The noise in the suspension is probably a bad ball joint. Most of them where not greasable. If you have a grease gun with a needle attachment you can put some grease in the ball joint boot. But thats only a noise fix as the ball joint is probably bad.

I would also check for codes and see if there is a transmission code. If not, try doing a trans service and put in a bottle of Lucas transmission oil additive. I swear by that Lucas stuff, I use all there products.