Originally posted by rjclark:
Cracked drum or pump. That sound serious, is it a major overhal. Are these parts prone to sudden failure. This tranny was working fine on Sat., O/D, Sport, Cruise...freeway and normal street driving. Sunday AM it croaks. Put it in D and rev to about 3K and it catches D and goes for about 100 yards. Then nothing until it cools down. So it's just parked. Never showed any sign of failure before that moment.

I say cracked drum because what you describe is massive hydraulic fluid pressure drop. This is caused by only 3 things in an automatic transmission:

1) Major leak around seal/bushing
2) Crack in drums/assyemblies
3) Fualting oil pump

All of which requires a full teardown to find the culprit and rebuild accordingly. Considering the cost to replace "hard parts", I would opt to purchase a rebuilt transmission from the likes of Pheonix or the like.

For Sale: 1997 Explorer XLT V8 AWD