2000 Explorer tranny and electrical problems

Hey guys my aunt just bought an "as-is" (apparently without a lemon law either) 2000 Ford Explorer. It has the following problems:
1.The tranny sounds as if it is slipping between first and second or second and third(me and my uncle heard it between different gears)
2. Drivers door lock is "sticky" (not the button though)
3. Rear wiper and thermometer/compass not working
4. The gosh darn thing sounds like it has a diesel engine in it

But the other day my uncle took it to Kennedy transmission and ammco transmission, ammco found nothing but Kennedy port something in the tranny and the slipping sound stopped. also all of a sudden the rear wiper started working again.

This is my aunt dream car ( yeah yeah I know) and it's the first 3/4 decent car she had, so if you could help me out on this it would be great

For the sticky door lock, that may be exactly what's happening. Maybe someone has sprayed so much WD-40 in the door latch to fix a door switch issue (not what I recommend) that the dirt and grime has collected, making the lock and latch gummy. If that seems like it could be the issue, spray the latch out well with brake cleaner, mop up what runs out of the drains in the door, and operate the latch and locks a few times to see if it gets better.

For the thermometer/compass, press the mode(?) button a few times to make sure it's not just in the off state. It will cycle between off, temp only (?) and temp and heading.

The rear wiper could be a situation where the wiper arm was used too often when frozen and the spline shaft is stripped. If when the arm didn't work you could still hear the motor running, the arm is probably stripped. It may have been knocked in the process which is why it's working now, reseated on the remaining splines.

Have you checked the condition and level of the oil for the loud knocking?

-Rod

For the sticky door lock, that may be exactly what's happening. Maybe someone has sprayed so much WD-40 in the door latch to fix a door switch issue (not what I recommend) that the dirt and grime has collected, making the lock and latch gummy. If that seems like it could be the issue, spray the latch out well with brake cleaner, mop up what runs out of the drains in the door, and operate the latch and locks a few times to see if it gets better.

For the thermometer/compass, press the mode(?) button a few times to make sure it's not just in the off state. It will cycle between off, temp only (?) and temp and heading.

The rear wiper could be a situation where the wiper arm was used too often when frozen and the spline shaft is stripped. If when the arm didn't work you could still hear the motor running, the arm is probably stripped. It may have been knocked in the process which is why it's working now, reseated on the remaining splines.

Have you checked the condition and level of the oil for the loud knocking?

-Rod



I will have to try that with the lock, I'm positive that there some electrical problem with the compass/thermometer because I have replaced the fused and pushed and held both buttons.
I'm not sure as to what your talking about with the thump, unless you misunderstood me say that it "sounds like it has a diesel engine"

I'm not sure as to what your talking about with the thump, unless you misunderstood me say that it "sounds like it has a diesel engine"

Right, modern diesels sound quite a bit different from older diesels, I need a better description. Does the engine rattle like a bad bearing, or does it knock like a ping, or is it a rough idle due to a misfire? Or does it whine like a spooled up turbo diesel?

-Rod