Sorry to post something non LSx related here but this is the only site that I am apart of and the truck section doesnt respond to me much but I know pretty much all automatics behave in a similar way.

A friend of mine has a POS Ford Explorer 4x4 1998 and it is an Automatic. If you start it up and put it in gear, and press the gas the transmission will just sit there and spin. This happens in every gear, however, if you put it back in park while the transmission is still spinning, it will make a grinding noise.

I was assuming it was a bad torque converter or is it an internal transmission issue?

Thanks again for the input!
Michael

 

Something is wrong with the transfer case. Are you sure the transfer case isn't in neutral? The noise you hear is the parking pawl in the transmission trying to engage the park gear.

 

Could be a multitude of problems: transfer case, trans, converter.....

 

I dont think the transfer case has any sort of switch, I think some trucks have a 4x4 or 2x4 switch.

 

Is it 4x4 or All Wheel Drive (AWD)? AWD does not have a switch and 4x4 has switches to enable selection of 2-high, 4-high, 4-low and neutral. If it's an AWD then the transfer case is bad. Used ones can be had pretty cheap or you can have it rebuilt.

 

Thanks. Yea it must just be AWD. Not that I ever buy anything from Autozone, but they sell them for $1,000 which just isn't worth it in my opinion for a $1,200 truck or whatever it may be worth lol. I am not sure how much to rebuild it but I doubt it's anything cheap.