What not to buy

OK a bit about myself, I rebuild transmissions for a living. Automatics, standard, foreign and domestic. I've worked on, and fixed mind you, a large variety of transmissions through the years. But I have this tip to offer you folks.

If you're looking at a new or used SUV or pickup, avoid the 2002 and up Ford Explorers & Rangers. Most of what I've seen with the transmission on that vehicle looks good, a big improvement over the older models. However there is one flaw with the design, and it can't be fixed, only repaired for a future failure. That fault lies in the band servos, the pistons that apply the intermediate and overdrive bands. In order to put a larger diameter piston, thereby allowing a bigger engine to be used, Ford placed the servos at an angle that when they are applying the bands there is a constant downward force. Steel rod with an wide groove pushing with a hell of a lot of force against the aluminum housing. We in the transmission industry have found the failures to occur any time up to 60,000 miles. Not many make it beyond that mileage. Now I say it can't be fixed because the only 2 options are to replace the case or to bore out worn area and install a hardened bushing to restore the correct fit. That's it, the physics are just too much to engineer out of it. I'm not sure how long the aftermarket bushing setup will actually run, its a quality part but there's just not a lot of high mileage feedback floating out there. But eventually they too will fail.

So if you have a desire to go SUV shopping keep this in mind when your looking. Incidental a slight variant of this transmission is also used in the Lincoln LS and a Jaguar model. Yes they too have this problem.