Transmission won't engage drive

[BBrinks]

I'm having transmission problems as of yesterday. When shifting from park to drive the first time, it engages fine. When I come to a stop after it warms up, though, it revs up like it's in neutral to about 1500-2000 RPM's before engaging. If I put it in 2 or 1, though, it starts out fine. It also does the same thing for reverse. I asked the mechanics at Ford and they said it could be a clip in the valve body that has broken, and they said it would be about $500 to replace the $2 clip. If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it.

 

[BlackOnBlackATX]

welcome to the forum, there are a couple of posts out there on this problem. i cant remember the cause offhand but im sure you can find something that will help. its a fairly common problem for 93 ATXs like ours frown

 

[BBrinks]

Thanks for the welcome. I tried searching, but all I could find is a post saying to check the fluid level. I checked it, and it seems ok, but sometime or another I heard that it's good to overfill it a little. I'll try searching some more, but if anyone else has a link to some posts, that'd be great.

 

[Gloffer]

I'm having a similar problem, except that my SHO (93 ATX) doesn't want to go from any stop. If I'm stopped in drive and take my foot off the brake, the car just sits there, no movement at all.

I have to rev the car to about 2000-2500 rpm before the tranny engages with a thunk,and chirps the front tires. The car then shifts and acts normally until I come to the next stop. The tranny fluid is relatively fresh and at the correct level. Needless to say the SHO is parked for now.

Is it time to bite the bullet and go to a dealer or tranny shop to get this fixed? Or is there something that can be done without dropping the tranny to fix this? I've got a new VSS, but have not installed it yet because it appears a little intimidating.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[SHO_of_SD]

Kinda sounds like the direct clutch piston has a crack or blown seal. If it is that a rebuild is probibly in order

 

[BBrinks]

Well, we took it to the Ford dealer and the guy that works on SHO's and owns one said that he's positive that it's the forward clutch piston, like SHf_SD said. Well, my dad found a transmission out of a 93 with 58K on it for $750 at a junkyard, and for $75, they'll give us a 6 month warranty on it. I don't know if we should risk putting on a newer transmission that still has the original aluminum piston in it. It's my sister's car and we were planning on selling it this spring.

Gloffer: Does it go into reverse? The tech guy pulled the codes and a VSS code came up, but he said that it wouldn't cause the transmission to not engage reverse. We have the exact problem you have. It revs up to 1500 RPM's or so and when it engages, it chirps the tires.

 

[Gloffer]

Yes, the car goes into reverse fine at least when it's cold. I haven't tried reverse when it's hot. The car goes into drive fine when it's cold it's first started up and still cold. The problem starts after it's warmed up and been driven 10 miles or so.

<small>[ February 22, 2003, 10:15 AM: Message edited by: Gloffer ]</small>