I have a 96 Ford Explorer that although was in slightly rough shape, ran well enough until about a month ago. After a day or two of the transmission feeling like it was slipping a little bit, the truck stopped responding in D, 2nd, and 1st gear. It functioned fine in reverse. In Drive it essentially does nothing, makes no noises, movement, etc. I had a mechanic come look at it, he said it was shifting into the gears properly, and suggested we start by doing a basic service on it to see if that resolved the issue, he was also going to clean a/the valve component of the transmission. His price was fair enough, but he admitted he did not know if that would resolve it. So I held off until I got my Uncle's opinion (who did a decent amount of wrenching sometime ago) he felt that perhaps the drive clutch(es) could have gone out on it, saying that the clutches they use in newer models are fairly soft, and so don't make a lot of noise or give a lot of warning when they go.
Interestingly enough, as I was looking for another car (weighing dumping money into this vehicle or buy a new one) I saw a 95 Explorer that had a similar issue, only it would drive, but not go into reverse. Seeing as this may be a common issue now, I wondered if someone with experience might give me their thoughts on what could be causing this issue and how best to handle it? Thanks in advance.
Interestingly enough, as I was looking for another car (weighing dumping money into this vehicle or buy a new one) I saw a 95 Explorer that had a similar issue, only it would drive, but not go into reverse. Seeing as this may be a common issue now, I wondered if someone with experience might give me their thoughts on what could be causing this issue and how best to handle it? Thanks in advance.