2006 2.4L automatic 214,000 miles and may be dead. Drove 2 hrs today to Louisville for World of Wheels car show. When leaving the parking lot I got a loud slapping noise as if a bar was dragging accross a spir grear slowly about the speed of the tire rotation. I made it out of the parking lot and lost forward motion and coasted into the next parking lot. The noise stopped when I lost forward motion. Once in the parking lot started checking axles as first thought was a CV joint but all are fine. I now have no gear selection at all including park. I get a faint feeling of the trans going into gear selection in drive but no motion in any gear and will not lock into park. I have had no signs of trouble with trans at all until today. Rented a vehicle to get home and will go back tomorrow with trailer to retrieve. What a fun weekend this is. No room in show to get it in so may be a while on this one.

 

Drop the fluid pan, remove the filter and inspect the fluid pipes for cracks at the flanges on each end .

 

The “loud slapping noise” would concern me. Sounds like a catastrophic internal failure. I would be looking for a new transmission.

 

Going to need to test it a bit to be sure it's not something simple before replacing it.

 

If only there were shops that specialized in automatic transmissions.

 

I believe my suggestion in post #2 is fair, a DIY project, the grinding maybe from lack of fluid pressure, of course if there is any metal chunks or debris in the pan, stop and start pulling the transmission out, and find a good used 4T45E
you can also remove the starter and investigate loose or missing torque converter bolts.

 

Just to give an update, When we picked the car up Sunday we checked the axles again and found the left axle able to be moved around by hand as in broken or disengaged from the trans, The axles where replaced a few months ago by yours truly so I may need to fire myself. Will dig into it more weather permitting as looks like it going to be raining for the next few days. I will update as soon as I have something to share.

 

Let us know!

 

Another member had an axle pop out because it never got locked in. The circlip is important, you can't just push the axle in; you have to make it click and insure that it locks.