Tranny Or Transfer Case Issues?

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Colby

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I have a 97 Expedition 5.4 Xlt 4X4. E40D Trany / 4406 Borg Transfer Case. A Couple months back i replaced my tranny with a junkyard certified working unit. Everything has been working great until a couple days ago i was on the highway and lost all gears. I coasted off the ramp and pulled over with no drive. I turned the car off then back on and went through all the gears including awd & 4 high & 4 low and reverse. It felt like it was shifting but no motion. When i went to shift back to park there was a grinding noise. (No dash light warnings or computer fault codes from the obd 2.) I then turned the truck off for little while and then started it again. Still no drive until i activated 4 wheel low, then i felt motion. I was able to move the truck slowly off the highway. I then put the truck into 2 wheel high and it would not go above 20 mph. I had the truck towed home. Today i checked it out more. Tested all the fuses and made sure that nothing came unplugged on the tranny. Changed the transfer case motor just because. That's about all that i have tested. Only other thing i did was disconnected the battery for a couple hours and still not going above 20 mph and won't shift from there? Any suggestions would be a blessing. I did notice also that sometimes when i go to start the truck that i have to move the shifter into park more to get it to start and only 1 or 2 times the truck would not shift out of park.
 
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stamp11127

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Welcome to the site, unfortunately I think you have a trans issue from the description. One way to tell is to pull the transfer case and see if the output shaft on the trans will turn while going through the gears. If it is the trans you would pull it anyway. If it is the transfer case, you'll also pull it.
Check the fluid level for kicks first.
 
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Colby

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Thanks! Checked the fluid levels and they are good. I changed the transmission about three months ago and the fluid still looks and smells like new. I'm going to get started pulling the transfer case i guess.
 
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Colby

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On a side note, I am running Merc V instead of regular Merc, there seems to such a debate with the e40d , wonder if this could be causing my issues?
 

stamp11127

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It depends, if the trans fluid you used is rated both Mercon and Mercon V then you are safe to use it. If not I would change it and go from there. Mercon V does have different friction modifiers than Mercon, so it could be as simple as the fluid.
 
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Colby

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Issue resolved

Replaced the transfer case and all is well. Appears that the fluid had leaked out. Thanks guys.
 

Lenny

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The noise you were hearing...was it a grinding noise or like a loud rubbing noise? I'm hearing it from mine really bad until it shifts out of first and it appears to be coming from transfer case instead of transmission
 
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Colby

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Grinding noise

The only grinding noise that i heard was when i was at a stop and shifted back to park. It even stopped doing that after awhile.
 

jmurphy4369

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Sorry, joining conversation late but my 2003 5.4 will only move in 4x4, sounds like transfer case fixed your issue?
 
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Colby

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Transfer Case replacement from the junkyard fixed the issue, i went to a you pull it place and got it cheap
 
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