Major transmission problems

[Ty Paladino]

I bought my 1993 ATX a couple months ago knowing something was up with the transmission but I cannot get it to shift out of park, the engine runs well but it will not shift. The shift cable is disconnected and I can’t shift it under the hood either. Any ideas?

 

[Toolman]

You are having trouble connecting the shift cable?

 

[Ty Paladino]

I have the cable disconnected inside the car, and it still won’t shift to out of park. I had to use a lot of force to make the shift selector on the transmission move so I can get the car when I bought it and the only way that I can get it to move us by putting it in a false neutral between Park and reverse but it still won’t pop into reverse or any other gear it only stays in park

 

[ISHOU]

Brake lights working? If not check the brake switch.

 

[FMC]

Brake lights working? If not check the brake switch.

Had the same problem with my 93 ATX. It was a broken brake switch

 

[Ty Paladino]

I’ll try that as soon as I get the chance to mess with the car again, I don’t remember since it’s been a few weeks and I’m hoping it’s just that

 

[Ty Paladino]

Good news, I got to check the car today and my brake lights don’t work. I ordered the $10 switch and I’m hoping that’s the fix, also still trying to get the engine to run reliably, it coughs at me and is hard to start a lot. I’m getting new plugs tomorrow and I replaced the fuel filter today, blew out the lines with air and cleaned the injectors. Anything else that may help?

 

[luigisho]

Hard to start and then runs ok or hard to start and runs poorly? If it just takes a lot of attempts of turning the key and eventually it starts that can be a failing cam sensor. I would verify battery and alt voltage first and then go from there. Also see what codes are sitting in the computer.

Here's how https://web.archive.org/web/20090917070939mp_/http://www.shophoenixproject.com/eec/eec.htm

Bookmark this site. It has expired on the web and has good repair DIY info with pics

 

[Ty Paladino]

Car starts poorly, tends to backfire out intake with low batt voltage.

Hot battery will fire up with ether and after it gets some heat it’ll idle well.

Revving is sluggish and won’t rise above 2-3000 without ether.

As I’ve run the car more and more I’ve had to use less and less ether, runs better the longer I let it go, luckily no overheating issues as of right now

Takes a lot of cycling key to get fuel to rail and I’ve cleaned everything from the fuel filter foreword...that’s why I believe fuel pump could be dying or clogged. It sat for at least 3 years before I got it

 

[zoomlater]

you can check the fuel pressure at the rail if you depress the Schrader valve. It should shoot up when you depress it. If you have a fuel pressure gauge you can check to see if the pressure is in the 30 to 40psi range.

do you have new fuel in the tank?

 

[Ty Paladino]

I have new fuel in tank now but fuel psi is low, just kinda dribbles out of schrader, I’ve used the manual pump test to get good fuel flow to rail with no air. Do it like that a lot on my diesel. But not really a huge “shot” of fuel, small fountain followed by a slow dribble

 

[RonPorter]

The proper 39 psi is definitely a gusher, and not a dribble!

 

[rubydist]

what are the codes?

 

[Ty Paladino]

Haven’t run code check yet, gotta do that this week after work. I unfortunately can’t keep it at my place because of my rental agreement, but My dad won’t let me keep it at his house so it’s at a coworkers

codes are gonna get checked when I have a hot batt too

 

[luigisho]

If the battery dies you might lose some stored codes. I empathize with your car storage situation. I have to do something similar since I went back to school and had to move somewhere where I can't park the car.

 

[Ty Paladino]

I’ve been disconnecting and taking the battery every night so I’ve probably lost all stored ones lol

I keep getting more and more excited every time I work on this car because it seems to want to come back from the dead

 

[Ty Paladino]

So on the shift selector cable. Is there a specific one I need? I have the ATX and I keep finding the mtx cables. I also know that there were slo with column shift.

 

[zoomlater]

So on the shift selector cable. Is there a specific one I need? I have the ATX and I keep finding the mtx cables. I also know that there were slo with column shift.

95 Taurus SE came with a console shifter like the ATX SHO's. Did the car not come with all the console shifter parts or do you have to track those parts down.

 

[Ty Paladino]

I have everything I believe, but it’s apart since someone was already trying to find out
You can somewhat see it in this picture

 

[Ty Paladino]

Checked codes on car with flash, I think I got them all


Codes
519


Stored
158
542
556