kevin_rmx

I have a 2000 Taurus SEL. Ran excellent. No prior problems at all. Ran like a new car. Today, all of a sudden as I turned a corner the tranny just lost the gear and never recovered. I coasted onto the curb. Tried all gears... nothing! It's like constant neutral. No rev. no drv... nothing. I assume the linkage is okay because when i put it in park and try to push the car it won't roll. In all other gears I can push it fine. The weird thing is that I never saw it coming. Like I said, that car always shifted like a charm, no hesitations, no bucking... nothing. I let the car cool off for about 3 hours and then tried it again and still nothing. If this is an easy fix, I would like to do it myself since I've worked on all my prior cars. Can someone point me in the right direction? Maybe a checklist of possible faults? Thank you.

Dr. Disque

what is your mileage?

do you have an AX4S or AX4N?

kevin_rmx

Thanks for the reply. I'm at about 65,000 miles. I believe it's an AX4N trans. If it helps, it's the Duratec DOHC engine.

kevin_rmx

Not sure what this means but maybe it can hint towards the cause of the problem. I checked the trans. dipstick dipstick today and saw that about 2 feet (yes, 24 inches) of the dipstick was covered in trans. fluid instead of only the very tip (an inch or so) where the 'fill level' crosshatching is. The car was sitting at a parking lot for a whole day so all fluid should have drained down by then. How the heck can the fluid level get so high so suddenly? I've always kept up with my fluids and have never seen anything like that before. My fluid level has always been in the normal. I've never added fluid.

Dr. Disque

it could get high like that if there was a clog somewhere in the system and pressure was "building up" on one side.

kevin_rmx

UPDATE: I unplugged a transmission line from the cooler at the radiator and started the car.... nothing! There was no fluid pumping. Now, here's the question; what's the best way to tell if it's a blockage somewhere, or if it's a bad pump? (BTW, I confirmed, it is an AX4N).

kevin_rmx

Well, I took apart the valve body and pump assembly. The pump looked like new. everything was intact. However, when I grabbed the pump shaft and tried to spin it by hand, it spun!!! You could feel it slipping past the splines. When I slid out the shaft you could see the teeth worn away. So my question is, will a new shaft fix this or will the torque converter have to be replaced as well. And if so, is a T/C replacement beyond the scope of a home mechanic? Should I just bite the bullet and bring it to the shop?

kurt_lesemann

My 2000 Taurus did same thing.. yesterday .. so im just begining this journey.. im awaiting your reply so i can know what to do ..

kurt_lesemann

Sorry... replys to your Problem and mine

kevin_rmx

Well, when the transmission pump shaft splines round out it can happen on two ends... on the pump end or on the torque converter end. If on the pump end, you can actually fix this yourself by removing the sidepan, then valve body, then sliding out the shaft. If on the torque converter side, you're screwed... the tranny will have to come out. Of course, in my case it was on the t/c end. Keep in mind, when the splines wear out the t/c is now ripping against worn metal and so the torque converter hub splines will round out too which will mean a a new t/c will be needed.After calling around, I found out the costs... approx. $300 to have tranny dropped and new T/C and shaft put in OR $800 to have whole tranny swapped out for another one (used of course). I decided to just ditch the tranny and get another one. All because of a freakin' pump shaft!