invert_nexus
New Member
Greetings all.
I've come to this forum after discovering this thread: Difference in the 96/97 AX4N and the 98 AX4N
This is an issue which is near and dear to my heart as I've been driving a 98 Mercury Sable with the familiar AX4N transmission issues for almost a year.
I know. This is a SHO forum, right? Well, I don't have one. Wish I did. But, I do have an AX4N and it's not working so well.
I got an AX4N from a 2004 Taurus real cheap and hoped that, with some minor modifications, that I could get it to work.
I got it installed, after some... minor... modifications (really, nothing serious, had to change a couple of plugs and take a grinder to the bracket, but not too bad. Also, bear in mind that I was informed by a mechanic friend that it had a good chance of working... Enough excuses, it was a risk and I took it. Nuff said.)
Anyway.
So.
The transmission is installed.
First problem. The VSS doesn't work properly. Tries to tell me that I'm driving 80 when I'm doing maybe 10. At 120 (30?) the car starts to buck a bit as I assume some sort of governor kicks in.
I was informed by another person I know who is a huge Ford Taurus fanatic that a computer reprogramming costing about 80 bucks at the dealership would most likely deal with that.
Great.
But, there's bigger problems.
When I first started running the transmission, it wouldn't shift. Not only that, but I finally realized why it felt so weird driving, even in a car stuck in first, was because the TCC wasn't engaging at certain points and so the engine and transmission were disconnected much of the time.
Perhaps this is due to RPM restrictions for certain gears? Just a guess. Maybe the TCC isn't bad at all. Maybe it's a fundamental problem with the transmission not shifting and the TCC dealing with it as best it can.
However, after driving it awhile, back and forth, back and forth, the car starts shifting.
It doesn't shift well. It's somewhat clunky but driveable. I found out later that it refuses to go up steep hills. Perhaps it's not downshifting all the way to first?
But, it drives.
We drive it. Back and forth. Get on the highway. The freeway. Working. Clumsy but perhaps the computer reprogramming will deal with these issues, right?
Optimistic and feeling good, we park the car to deal with some other issues, and then get back in it later to drive it again.
It doesn't shift.
Again, driving back and forth, back and forth. It finally starts shifting.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when or why it starts shifting. A couple of times it was after mashing the gas pedal. A couple of times it was when going up a slight hill.
But, every time we park the car, turn it off, let it sit a couple of minutes.
It doesn't shift.
Same routine.
We tried changing the filter as a last chance.
Seemed to help a bit, but still no good.
One other thing.
After the VSS malfunctioned, we just disconnected it. So, all this driving is without the speedometer, and we reasoned that perhaps this might contribute to some of the clunkiness, but likely not the overall failure to shift. To me it seems mechanical in nature.
So.
We get to the crux.
The TCC Solenoid.
One of the times that it started shifting it threw an error code that we checked as p1744.
This has to do with the TCC Solenoid sticking, unless I'm mistaken.
I'm somewhat familiar with this code, as it was intermittently thrown by my original transmission as well. It would come and go. But, I never saw anything like this.
My question (finally, right?) is this.
In the thread I linked to in the ancient days of my first paragraph or so, they mention changing out the solenoid from the 97 transmission to the 98.
Is it possible that if I did this with mine it could have the same effect?
A couple of key issues.
My car is a 98 mercury sable. The tag on top of the transmission is unreadable so I'm not sure if the year of the transmission is also a 98 or is it from the previous year?
The new transmission is from a 2004 Taurus, but the tag on top of the tranny says 2003. That's what makes me wonder about the year thing.
Note. It's been a while since we took out the transmission so there's a possibility that we are misremembering the year of the car. So, if you tell me that a 2003 tranny only comes in a 2003 car, then I'll bow to your knowledge on the subject.
Hmm.
Anything else?
Think that's it.
Sorry about the length of the post.
Hopefully somebody in the know will make it through and respond.
I'm especially concerned with perhaps reaching 1995mtxsho as he seemed to really know what he was talking about in regards to the solenoid.
Fingers crossed.
(Aside: I'm mostly resigned to having to have the old transmission rebuilt. But I'd really like to know for my own curiosity at the very least.)
Thank you.
I've come to this forum after discovering this thread: Difference in the 96/97 AX4N and the 98 AX4N
This is an issue which is near and dear to my heart as I've been driving a 98 Mercury Sable with the familiar AX4N transmission issues for almost a year.
I know. This is a SHO forum, right? Well, I don't have one. Wish I did. But, I do have an AX4N and it's not working so well.
I got an AX4N from a 2004 Taurus real cheap and hoped that, with some minor modifications, that I could get it to work.
I got it installed, after some... minor... modifications (really, nothing serious, had to change a couple of plugs and take a grinder to the bracket, but not too bad. Also, bear in mind that I was informed by a mechanic friend that it had a good chance of working... Enough excuses, it was a risk and I took it. Nuff said.)
Anyway.
So.
The transmission is installed.
First problem. The VSS doesn't work properly. Tries to tell me that I'm driving 80 when I'm doing maybe 10. At 120 (30?) the car starts to buck a bit as I assume some sort of governor kicks in.
I was informed by another person I know who is a huge Ford Taurus fanatic that a computer reprogramming costing about 80 bucks at the dealership would most likely deal with that.
Great.
But, there's bigger problems.
When I first started running the transmission, it wouldn't shift. Not only that, but I finally realized why it felt so weird driving, even in a car stuck in first, was because the TCC wasn't engaging at certain points and so the engine and transmission were disconnected much of the time.
Perhaps this is due to RPM restrictions for certain gears? Just a guess. Maybe the TCC isn't bad at all. Maybe it's a fundamental problem with the transmission not shifting and the TCC dealing with it as best it can.
However, after driving it awhile, back and forth, back and forth, the car starts shifting.
It doesn't shift well. It's somewhat clunky but driveable. I found out later that it refuses to go up steep hills. Perhaps it's not downshifting all the way to first?
But, it drives.
We drive it. Back and forth. Get on the highway. The freeway. Working. Clumsy but perhaps the computer reprogramming will deal with these issues, right?
Optimistic and feeling good, we park the car to deal with some other issues, and then get back in it later to drive it again.
It doesn't shift.
Again, driving back and forth, back and forth. It finally starts shifting.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when or why it starts shifting. A couple of times it was after mashing the gas pedal. A couple of times it was when going up a slight hill.
But, every time we park the car, turn it off, let it sit a couple of minutes.
It doesn't shift.
Same routine.
We tried changing the filter as a last chance.
Seemed to help a bit, but still no good.
One other thing.
After the VSS malfunctioned, we just disconnected it. So, all this driving is without the speedometer, and we reasoned that perhaps this might contribute to some of the clunkiness, but likely not the overall failure to shift. To me it seems mechanical in nature.
So.
We get to the crux.
The TCC Solenoid.
One of the times that it started shifting it threw an error code that we checked as p1744.
This has to do with the TCC Solenoid sticking, unless I'm mistaken.
I'm somewhat familiar with this code, as it was intermittently thrown by my original transmission as well. It would come and go. But, I never saw anything like this.
My question (finally, right?) is this.
In the thread I linked to in the ancient days of my first paragraph or so, they mention changing out the solenoid from the 97 transmission to the 98.
Is it possible that if I did this with mine it could have the same effect?
A couple of key issues.
My car is a 98 mercury sable. The tag on top of the transmission is unreadable so I'm not sure if the year of the transmission is also a 98 or is it from the previous year?
The new transmission is from a 2004 Taurus, but the tag on top of the tranny says 2003. That's what makes me wonder about the year thing.
Note. It's been a while since we took out the transmission so there's a possibility that we are misremembering the year of the car. So, if you tell me that a 2003 tranny only comes in a 2003 car, then I'll bow to your knowledge on the subject.
Hmm.
Anything else?
Think that's it.
Sorry about the length of the post.
Hopefully somebody in the know will make it through and respond.
I'm especially concerned with perhaps reaching 1995mtxsho as he seemed to really know what he was talking about in regards to the solenoid.
Fingers crossed.
(Aside: I'm mostly resigned to having to have the old transmission rebuilt. But I'd really like to know for my own curiosity at the very least.)
Thank you.
