Same Old Transmission Woes

[Funmart6]

I have posted several times in the past about problems I have had with eratic shifting that was happenning with my car. The transmission would not want to shift out of 1st gear on its own, and if you floored it, it would act like it was not in gear and was hitting the rev limiter. It is still doing all of this. It was thought that the MAF sensor was the culprit to the problem. I have a new MAF sensor now and the car is still not shifting properly. I have also changed the coils on the front bank, it was thought that the coil closest to the MAF could be causing the problem, but the problem still persists. The transmission was rebuilt a couple of years ago so I thought that something could be interfering with it electronically. I am at my wits end on this and don't know what else could be causing this shift problem. Anyone got any other ideas?
Here is what it is doing. It doesn't want to shift from 1st to second on its own. You can shift into second manually, but when you shift up into drive it acts like it is in nuetral and hits the rev limiter and sounds all bogged down. Sometimes you can continue to rev it when it is doing this and it will shift and be fine for a while and shift normally. I am going to try to get a flip video of this sometime today to show what it is doing. I have got to get this car running properly, my Expedition blew a damn plug last week and it will be down a while, so now I have to rely on the SHO. Thanks guys for any input, suggestions, or moral support.

 

[luigisho]

Did you crosspost this to the other v8 lists?

 

[Funmart6]

Crosspost? No, It has been some time ago that I posted about this problem, had several replies and suggestions about the problem, most pointing to a faulty MAF sensor. I just wonder what else could be causing this to happen and has anyone else had this problem.

I drove the car this morning and finally got it to shift on its own. I had it in drive and continued to rev up off and on and then it shifted. I continued to drive it around and it shifted fine, then the SES light came on, So I went to Autozone to scan it.
Their scanner showed 3 codes. P0171, P0174, and P0455.
I am like, what the crap??? The SES light was not on before, and all I have done is install a brand new MAF, tightened up a loose spark plug on the front bank, and change two coils on the front bank. Go figure, put new parts on this car and it throws codes at you. Would these codes cause the shift problem???

 

[Wakeboy1337]

You know you always type these codes into Google with the word "Taurus" after them and get results. It's been a lifesaver for me with the parents expedition.

 

[Funmart6]

From what I have researched, I basically may have a vacuum leak somewhere that is causing the codes. It is just wierd that these codes did not appear until today. I am going to check all my hoses and intake connectors this afternoon.
My question is this; would a vacuum leak cause the transmission to not shift out of 1st? What about this scenario, say there is a vacuum leak, could it cause the MAF to send wrong info to the computer and then cause the transmission to stay in 1st? It is strange that, about an hour ago I went somewhere in the car and it was acting up, (hair cut), then when I started back home, the car performed normally and shifted fine. Now the car has been sitting for about an hour and if I drive it right now, it will probably be acting up again.

Thanks for any suggestions or answers to my questions.

 

[bacernate]

Did you replace the maf with a metal one or plastic? They are different for the 96-97 than the 98-99. And no something electronic will not keep the car from shifting at all. It may shift like shit but it will shift. I would have to say the easiest thing to do would be to remove the valve body and have the pump and pump shaft seals inspected. Maybe valve body problems? If they rebuild the trans without a shift kit it will fail again as the internal lubricating abilities of the ax4n are shit. See if you can get ahold of someone with a scanner and make sure the mlp sensor is adjusted properly.

 

[Funmart6]

The MAF is a metal one because I know they are year specific. When the trans was rebuilt, a shift kit was installed. So you think it may be valve body related. I was also thinking maybe it was a solenoid not functioning properly. I think it is time once again for a pro to take a look at it, only thing is, nobody seems to know about these cars at all around here.

I just wonder why, when I can get the thing to shift, it will be okay for a while, but after it sits around, the problem starts all over again.

 

[Funmart6]

I found this in another thread. Can these instructions also be used to get to the other shift solenoids?



Break the ball joint to push the left front hub towards the drivers door in the wheel opening.
Remove the inner fender.
Support the tranny from below.
Remove the cross member/support from the drivers side of the transmission.
Remove the side cover of the transmission.
Replace the TCC solenoid
Put everything back together.
Top off the transmission fluid.

 

[SHOZ123]

Once the cover is off you can get to all the solenoids.

 

[Funmart6]

Thanks Paul.
Did you try to post a couple of pics? I see red x's. I know I have seen pictures of the solenoids before and have searched, but haven't found them yet. I am thinking I could change out the 1st or 2nd shift solenoids and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Funmart6]

I found this online, this is exactly what my car is doing, I just wish I knew what this guy did to fix his. Paul I saw that you had commented about this when this was posted back last December on TCCA, do you recall what the fix was?


Symptom at hand is as following.

Car starts up cold, will not engage 2nd, will just rev up. If I drop it into 2nd when this is happening 2nd will engage but will not 3rd until driving around in 2nd for a few minutes. I have 3 new shift solenoids installed but I have read about people with tauruses or sho's that wont shift into 2nd due to bad TCC. I dont have any codes for the transmission. Just P0401, P0171 and P0174. This is my only car, and unemployed so cant afford to take back to the person who didnt do it right the first time.

Once the car is warmed up, the 95% of the time will shift through the gears flawlessly, till you come to a stop and have to wait, it will slip at 2nd but dropping it into 2nd for a split second will cause 2nd to engage.

Found a pic,

 

[SHOZ123]

Pictures are showing up for me.

 

[bacernate]

I have some shift solenoids from when I swapped my vb a couple months ago. I bought a rebuilt vb on ebay for 120 shipped and installed it and replaced the missing teflon seals on the pump shaft and no more p1744. I did it on a lift with air tools and it took about 2 hours.
Sadly when they rebuild a trans most guys just fix whats broken and don't inspect the rest of it. I doubt it's an electronic part failure but some thing internal most likely.

 

[Funmart6]

I am looking at changing out the valve body, but I also want to make sure the torque converter solenoid is the right one. I remember when they rebuilt my transmission and I picked up the car, within a week it didn't "feel" right. I took the car back to them and they had the car for a month and they couldn't get the torque converter to lock and unlock like it should. They supposedly sent the valve body off for testing and it was okay.

I have noticed that when I am driving the car and slowing down, I can sometimes feel the TC lock up fairly hard, I just wonder if the TCC solenoid installed is the wrong one and it has just taken a while for it to finally start dying? What would the transmission act like if the wrong TCC solenoid were installed?

 

[bacernate]

Just for testing purposes find the tcc wire on top of the trans connector and cut it then drive it and see how it acts. Don't leave it like this for weeks on end but it will not have any ill effects on the trans other than the ses light coming on.

 

[bacernate]

You can also ohm this wire after you cut it and see what the resistance is. Low is 96-97 and high is 98-99. Just put your meter on 200k scale and red to trans wire and black to ground. I believe 97 is 2-3 ohms.

 

[Funmart6]

What color is the TCC wire? I can see one wire has been pulled away from the others and has a connector splicing it back together. I will bet the trans shop that rebuilt my tranny did that.

I found a 1997 SHO at a local Pull-a-part, I may go and get the valve body out of it this weekend. I need a really good diagram of the valve body and pump.

Question #1. How can one tell if the pump is not functioning properly. I am thinking it could be the pump causing the problem also, but if it were the pump the transmission would not shift at all right?

Question #2. I have a shift kit installed. If I were to get a new valve body, pump, and solenoids and install them, am I going to have to modify anything to make them work?

It might help if I had an understanding of how the shift kit works.