I have a 97 escort. 156,000 miles on. The auto tranny exploded with about a 5 inch piece of the housing breaking loose from the drivers side. Anyone see this before? Will a tranny replacement fix the problem? How much for a used tranny?

Try car-part.com it will search wrecking yards across the country for the part you need. I have never heard of an automatic tranny doing this on a stock engine. A new/used one should fix your problem just make sure to replace the torque convertor too.