Transmission Woes

[cajun555]

Its a 96 Tauras with a a4xn trans. the problem I'm having is it won't shift out of first in "D" range. you put in "2" and it shifts perfect through all the gears, it will down shift if you hit the gas, just like it was in drive. After about 10 miles of normal driving you'll feel the thing like it trying to down shift, so you put the selector in "D" and all is normal till the car sits and cools off. I have checked linkage and fluid was changed 10k miles back. The car has 191k on it.

I'm probally not going to fix it but something I can tell the new potential new owner.

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: Transmission Woes

The first thing you need to understand is that I'm a pessimist.I'm afraid your car may be ready for the crusher.


I have a friend that runs a small auto crushing yard. He gets cars like yours in because of problems like this. The previous owners will take it to the Ford dealer who tells them they need a new transmission and it's 1500 dollars.
So, they just junk the car. Makes me mad to see rust free cars that run perfect get crushed. But that's the way it is now. New cars are built like toasters you use them till they break then through them away and get a new one.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Transmission Woes

Maybe a valve body going south.
Stopped up filter maybe.
Sounds more like the valve body is bypassing fluid under pressure untill warmed up and thinned out.

 

[cajun555]

Re: Transmission Woes

I was posting to satisfy the wife. Its her car and I told her we'll be lucky to get 500 out of it. Besides the trans. it has a 1 bad cat. oil leak on timing chain cover(DOHC). I told her it has served us well and I'm not going to put any more money in it.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Transmission Woes

I was posting to satisfy the wife. Its her car and I told her we'll be lucky to get 500 out of it. Besides the trans. it has a 1 bad cat. oil leak on timing chain cover(DOHC). I told her it has served us well and I'm not going to put any more money in it.

Good idea..... it sounds like it is at it's end. A tranny, a cat and high miles it's time to find a $1500 car instead.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Transmission Woes

The first thing you need to understand is that I'm a pessimist.I'm afraid your car may be ready for the crusher.


I have a friend that runs a small auto crushing yard. He gets cars like yours in because of problems like this. The previous owners will take it to the Ford dealer who tells them they need a new transmission and it's 1500 dollars.
So, they just junk the car. Makes me mad to see rust free cars that run perfect get crushed. But that's the way it is now. New cars are built like toasters you use them till they break then through them away and get a new one.

WOW!!!

Who peed on your Post Toasties this morning?


(optimistically speaking, of course.)

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: Transmission Woes

WOW!!!

Who peed on your Post Toasties this morning?


(optimistically speaking, of course.)

Well, like I said I'm just a pessimist. Used to be a time when transmissions ran forever. Now they seem to be the first thing to go. My dad bought a 74 Caprice new. He drove it for 120000 sold it to my sister. She drove it to 150000 sold it to me. I drove it to 175000 and sold it to some friends. They drove it to 201000 . When the finally junked it the tranny still worked fine and the engine still ran although it had a bad hesitation. Kinda expect that on a engine with 200000 miles that had never been apart or ever had a carburetor kit. But, the body was rusted out so they junked it. You could not afford to put the gas in something like that car today. But, it always bothers me to see a more modern fuel efficient car that has major mechanical problems. By now they should be able to build one that runs forever, or there abouts.

Sorry for the thread hi jack. I'll try to be more careful.

 

[DJ]

Re: Transmission Woes

If it shifts in "2" the trans. is not junk. Most likely, your last trans. fluid flush knocked some debris loose that settled in one of the shift solenoids.

Before I junked it, I think I"d spend a few bucks on getting the thing flushed again.

Are you sure they put the right fluid in it?

 

[dolluper]

Re: Transmission Woes

Shift solenoid "filter"!!!,pluged a little,when fuild warms up after numerous shifts and thinner it passes through,when cold it doesn't

 

[MikDee]

Re: Transmission Woes

I would give it another tranny fluid flush, and maybe use synthetic blend fluid, also maybe put in some Sea Foam tranny fluid conditioner. I really think that the last flush didn't get all the leftover built up gunk out.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Transmission Woes

I'll try to be optimistic and say ya'll got a good one. My uncle drove Taurus' as a company car. At almost exactly 53000 miles the tranny failed on 3 of them. After the third one he asked Avis is it something he was doing. They told him it was always this way, all of them were failing.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Transmission Woes

Good advice given about replacing the fluid and flush, maybe add a can of Kand W tranny tune up. I just sold a fairly nice 97 for 400. and it had a new starter, and almost new tires etc. Problem is those cars are very plentiful that run for 12 to 18 hundred. Its time to "cut it loose" If the repair bill for just one repair is going to run more than 7 to 8 hundred. Only way to come out is to install a used tranny yourself.. Cost = 350 to 500 for the used tranny and its not a fast job but not very hard either..I say junk it and go buy another one .You can find a real nice 2000 for 2 to 3 k. I just picked up a 04 with 80k for 6 k...company car with road miles. If it has 190k on it ,Its already gone past most. My 97 blew the head gaskets at 140k.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Transmission Woes

The shift solenoid filters are usually over looked when doing a fuild change,the valve body filter, new gasket and fuild is all most get They are cheap to 3-4 bones

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: Transmission Woes

The shift solenoid filters are usually over looked when doing a fuild change,the valve body filter, new gasket and fuild is all most get They are cheap to 3-4 bones

How much is a bone?

The last time I had a tranny flush they did not even remove the pan. The just hooked up some machine that flushed the whole thing back wards through the tranny cooler lines.

 

[rwise]

Re: Transmission Woes

Well I would have to try a can of sea foam trans tune, may not help but it helped mine, the full stall torque converter was not stalling (locking) I can of trans tune and 2 days later it now locks at 36 mph every time, it has been about 4 years since I did this. May not help yours, but its not costly either, bout $6-8 bucks most places, dont give up on her yet she may have another 50k in her

 

[dolluper]

Re: Transmission Woes

How much is a bone?
Well it depends on the market that day and weather it's in Canadian or American funds

 

[arboldt]

Re: Transmission Woes

The Taurus was a really popular model, but I never understood why. They were notorius for transmission problems. My supervisor at work had his transmission replaced 3 times and he still bought another one .

My folks had a 96 Taurus that they took to the dealer for routine maintenance. They were told Ford had issued a recall on their car -- can't remember if it was engine or tranny; they had the option to 1) ignore the situation and wait until it died at a highly inopportune time, 2) order a replacement and wait 2-4 months with no vehicle for the replacement to arrive, 3) Trade it in for a generous allowance on a new Ford, so they got a new 2001; my dad died a couple months later. A couple years after that Mom sold the car to my nephew.

Given their repair history, I would never buy a Taurus.

Now that you've got one, sell it for whatever you can get. Read Consumer Reports and visit CarTalk.com for reliable and economic new wheels.

I understand it was your wife's car and she may like it, but no matter how many feathers you paste on a turkey, it'll never make it an eagle.

 

[DJ]

Re: Transmission Woes

Gee, what did I miss? Cajun asked for some advice of fixing his car. All of a sudden it turned into a Ford bashing contest. No constructive help, just bashing.

If you can help, do so. Otherwise brand opinions have no use to Cajun.

 

[cajun555]

Re: Transmission Woes

I didn't meen for a ford bash. Its been a great car and as far as repair bills, just the normal routine stuff , tires couple of batteries, 1 altenator, a/cclutch. As far as I'm concerned you drive a car for 191k with no major problems thats not bad. I think on the NADA web site the car is worth 1600. retailin fair shape. I'm the kind of guy that if I start working on it I won't know when to stop putting money in it.

Now who wants to buy a car??

 

[SuperNova]

Re: Transmission Woes

Sounds like Caveman Charlie has a friend who might be interested.