I've never had any problems with my auto gearbox until recently. I always drive my car very conservative but one day a month ago I just decided to go faster and was a bit of a hooligan (when I was younger I used to do Trackdays and was a bit of a boy racer long time ago) I found a very quite car park and although my car is old it's still surprising quite quick when I floor it, anyway I did a couple of handbrake turns and it was dry so probably put stress on the car (yes a 2005 Ford Ghia can do handbrakes as long as Barbara isn't in the passenger seat) but the next day my gearbox started making noises.

These noises are very quite a slight low clunk when beginning to drive off in D, or when moving from N to R then quite clunk before reversing these noises never happened before and I've had the car since 2016, basically when I put in D or R and begin to move there is a quite clunk- not when I'm actually moving the gear lever to select D or R. Have I damaged something?

 

My guess would be you damaged the rubber on the lower gearbox mount which was already worn before and now the whole bottom of the engine swings a bit when you start going forward or reversing. The lower gerabox mount when the rubber is damaged looks like the bottom picture. It is easy to diagnose on the lift or on the jackstands and also cheap and pretty easy to replace.

 

 

Here is a video on replacing it:

 

If it's not the gearbox mount then it sounds like you've cooked your fluid, check the fluid to see if it's started to turn brown. If so change quickly.

Once fluid is changed, re-set the clutch engagement by:

Engine running, warm (and transmission warm), transmission in park, handbrake off, foot hard on brake.

Change transmission from "P" to "D" 5 times within 5 seconds, end in "P".

Within 5 seconds Repeat above, keep foot on brake!

Within 5 seconds:

Now engage "D" and hold for 5 seconds

Jump to "R" and hold for 5 seconds (do not stop at "N" just go straight through)

Repeat this five times for 5 seconds each then engage "P" at the end.

Each time you run from "R" to "D" and back you should feel the clunks getting smoother.

If it's not much better, key out, open & close door, engine back on and start again.

This won't work if you haven't changed the fluid though 

If it's still not much better after that and there is no major transmission slip whilst driving then add some "LUCAS Transmission Fix" to the fluid and start again. It won't hurt to add the fix fluid when you change anyway, it's good stuff. You will need to warm the fix fluid before putting in as it's very thick. I left mine in the airing cupboard over night. Fix Fluid has to be added once normal fluid is in, whilst transmission is warm and engine running so that it doesn't drop to the bottom.

If you are getting major clunks AND slip then I'm afraid the box is damaged and will need repairing (solenoids or clutches are cooked)

1 hour ago, DaveT70 said:

If it's not the gearbox mount then it sounds like you've cooked your fluid, check the fluid to see if it's started to turn brown. If so change quickly.

Once fluid is changed, re-set the clutch engagement by:

Engine running, warm (and transmission warm), transmission in park, handbrake off, foot hard on brake.

Change transmission from "P" to "D" 5 times within 5 seconds, end in "P".

Within 5 seconds Repeat above, keep foot on brake!

Within 5 seconds:

Now engage "D" and hold for 5 seconds

Jump to "R" and hold for 5 seconds (do not stop at "N" just go straight through)

Repeat this five times for 5 seconds each then engage "P" at the end.

Each time you run from "R" to "D" and back you should feel the clunks getting smoother.

If it's not much better, key out, open & close door, engine back on and start again.

This won't work if you haven't changed the fluid though 

If it's still not much better after that and there is no major transmission slip whilst driving then add some "LUCAS Transmission Fix" to the fluid and start again. It won't hurt to add the fix fluid when you change anyway, it's good stuff. You will need to warm the fix fluid before putting in as it's very thick. I left mine in the airing cupboard over night. Fix Fluid has to be added once normal fluid is in, whilst transmission is warm and engine running so that it doesn't drop to the bottom.

If you are getting major clunks AND slip then I'm afraid the box is damaged and will need repairing (solenoids or clutches are cooked)

Given the age of the car it'll be the old Ford 4-speed slush box, so no clutch to speak of. Is this clutch reset for the Powershifts?

No, this resets the internal clutches.

Yes, this is an old 4 speed slush box.

The advice should work, if not internal damage to the clutches has happened