Trans Help Please - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

ace258741 · 05-24-2007, 13:22

i recently bought a 97 taurus GL with low miles, the person i bought it from said the trans was rebuilt but he didnt seem too smart and seemed like a sucker (had bosch wiper blades ect.) so god only knows what was actually done to the trans, but to cut to the chase here, it shifts real hard from 1st to 2nd gear, all the other shifting is real smooth. are these cars notorious for a hard shift or could this be the start of a possible problem. any insight would be appreciated, thanks in advance

mre_power · 05-24-2007, 14:31

mine was. but it had high miles. the trannys are finicky and fail at the drop of a hat it seems. i say have the filter changed and fluid, just to see what is going an in the transmission. there is a magnet that collects metal shavings in the filter pan that accumulate and too much indicates too much wear.

ace258741 · 05-24-2007, 14:36

thanks for the advice, i did a bit of research and came across that it could be a faulty throttle position sensor, anyone think this could be the problem?

Johnny Mullet · 05-24-2007, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by ace258741

thanks for the advice, i did a bit of research and came across that it could be a faulty throttle position sensor, anyone think this could be the problem?

I highly doubt it. Did you pull the dipstick and inspect the fluid? If it was recently rebuild or whatever, the fluid should be a nice red color.

mre_power · 05-24-2007, 18:43

may even be a poor rebuild

ace258741 · 05-25-2007, 06:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

I highly doubt it. Did you pull the dipstick and inspect the fluid? If it was recently rebuild or whatever, the fluid should be a nice red color.

yeah the fluid is fine, proper level and clean

**tbird100636** · 05-26-2007, 06:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by ace258741

Thanks for the advice, I did a bit of research and came across that it could be a faulty throttle position sensor, anyone think this could be the problem?

The only time I've ever seen a TPS affect Trans. operation was a Dodge Truck and it caused the torque converter to go into and out of lock-up... or maybe it was into and out of overdrive. We had a Durango with this problem and the foreman took the trans out to check out the trans. He did find the overdrive clutches were burned. He overhauled it, put it back in and drove it. It was improved, but the problem was there intermitently. He found while holding the gas steady watching sensor values the TPS was not staying steady. Everytime the trans. acted up the TPS volts went a little out of wack. He replaced the TPS and fixed the problem. In your case, it sounds more like an internal problem or a sensor issue on the trans. How does the speedo. work???

ace258741 · 05-26-2007, 11:13

Hey guys, thanks again for the help / advice, although some doubted the TPS, turns out thats what it was, went to napa yesterday and bought one, changed the old one out this morning, and now she shifts like a champ, the idle speed was off too so that also hinted at a possible TPS problem, so i took a gamble and it paid off, now everything is great, you gotta love how a $30 sensor can make a car drive like garbage, but i guess thats how it is these days, anyways hope this thread can help other people out down the road because $30 is a helluva better than a poor drive or wrecked trans.

SHOZ123 · 06-02-2007, 23:01

The TPS causes a lot of problems and not just with the tranny. Radio lights and other accesories may be affected. The switch is a potentiometer that shows a different resistance for each position. When things go bad the PCM does not know the position is and gets stupid.