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Originally Posted by MadMan
You have a 4wd vehicle, that 'goes into neutral.' Red flag. The transfer case may be in neutral. If the 'transmission' sounds like it's grinding gears while in gear, or if it's in neutral completely and you put it in drive for a minute, then put it in park, and it makes a loud fast grinding, you're looking at a transfer case problem. You already indicated that it had a transfer case issue.
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No grinding gear noises actually, or at least compared to what I know of a manual transmission there's no obvious gear grinding going on. Think more the sound of a power steering pump under load. The previous owner also mentioned he had just serviced the transfer case and the rear differential, so both have recently had their fluids changed as well.
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Check the trans fluid, engine running, in park, on a level ground. Is it in normal range, or too high/low? Check it again with engine off and compare the levels. Should be much higher on the stick when it's off. If there isn't much difference, the trans isn't sucking in fluid like it should. The filter could be clogged, or fallen down.
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This was one of the first things I did once I was rolled into a parking lot. The fluid didn't smell, did not look burned, I didn't see anything shiny in the fluid but it was topped off before we left and was still reading high, both at hot idle and with the engine off. I checked it again this morning and still read the same, even after the car had warmed up, so I am still thinking it is a hydraulic issue. I was able to get it to shift into a gear this morning while cold but it was noisy, took a few seconds and would fail back to neutral and go quiet if I tried shifting out again.