4spd Auto Problems!! - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

AUII_Forte · 09-27-2003, 19:34

I posted this in the garage, but have had no luck, so I'll post it here as well.

Hey Guys,

I got in my car yesterday afternoon to go up to the local shops, reversed out of the driveway fine, got all the way there fine.

Then I went to reverse in to a park, but the car had other plans. I put it in reverse and the car didn't move. I moved out of the way and pulled up to try again, but no go. If I put my foot down further, it'd slowly start to creep, but as soon as I took my foot off the accelerator it'd literally slam to a stop. I got out and checked the tranny fluid, was a little low but not unacceptable. I went and got some more fluid and topped it up, still no go. I then drove it home. The car is fine in drive, but binds up in reverse and gets 1st gear when the selector is in neutral. When in neutral it doesn't change gears, just stays in first and slips if subjected to heavy acceleration.

The box gets the right gears in 1, 2, 3 & D and drives fine, but if I take my foot off the accelerator while coasting the revs drop back to idle really quick and when I put my foot back down it jolts back into a gear.

It's done this all of the sudden! It was fine all day till this afternoon. The box was serviced less than 3 months ago and the car has only ticked over 155,000k's. Could it be the rear band, or does it seem like my T5 conversion is going to be neccessary a little earlier than budgeted for?? :(
Also, this morning when I went to have a bit more of a fiddle, I got it to behave normally, all I did was shake and tap a few things to make sure they were tight. I got home and went to reverse and it wouldn't. I've also noticed that its trying to move forward when in park!! Something is VERY wrong. Please help!!!

jjj · 09-27-2003, 21:27

My old man had similar problems with the 4spd auto gearbox on his EB II. He ended up removing all the electrical plugs and spraying them heavily with wd40 and once clicked them back in the problem went away. So it may be an electrical problem between the gearbox and the gearbox ecu.

cheers jjj

AUII_Forte · 09-27-2003, 23:33

It seems like the park mechanism isn't disengaging or something, thats just how it feels trying to reverse. And it's also trying to drive itself forward in park. With the car in park and foot on the floor it won't rev past 2k rpm. It may be an electrical prob, i'll try it. But I will just about bet something has given up the ghost and put metal shards all through the tranny. :(

09-28-2003, 00:13

Maybe your selector thingy underneith the car has come loose? Put it in neutral and give it lots of revs and tell us what happens.

AUII_Forte · 09-28-2003, 01:51

In neutral, the car drives forward and kind of shudders up till about 30km's, it only stays in first gear, but after 30km's it's just like having the selector in 1st except if I step on it slips really bad.

I have adjusted the linkage to the gearbox, that was when it started to behave normally again, but then went back after a short drive. I tried fiddling with it a bit more after that, but it made no difference.

The strange thing is the box made NO noises at all to indicate something broke or went wrong. I doubt it's electrical as the box isn't going into limp mode at all. Will it go into limp home mode of something mechanical goes wrong?? It's got me really confused, it just happened but has shown no signs of wear at all. All changes in drive are still perfect except when I take my foot of the accelerator it doesn't hold the gear and the revs drop to idle really quick. This also happens in 1,2 & 3. If I put it in 1 and drive up to about 60k's and take my foot of, it plummets down to idle then when I put my foot back down the revs rise sharply and it grabs the gear again.

09-28-2003, 02:10

Well by the sounds of it, it's getting stuck inbetween 2 gears.

Try adjusting the linkage again and make sure the swiveling bit still swivel.

galapogos01 · 09-28-2003, 02:15

i think youre on the money donuts!

AUII_Forte · 09-29-2003, 01:22

Well guys I talked to the local transmission place and they reckon that it's broken the spring on the C3 clutch pack. This particular clutch controls forward motion. The reason it won't reverse is the fact that the tranny is trying to drive against itself. This means the box needs a full reco (or in my case a T5....SWEET!!!!). What causes this to happen???? The car is driven fairly sedately with the odd full throttle squirt. It's only done 155,000k's, my EA had a 4spd in it when I first got it and it had 243,000k's on it, albeit it was getting a little tired, but nothing to be very concerned about. I don't understand it

Troutman · 09-29-2003, 02:10

Gee that's really strange. I can't say I've heard of it happening before!

AUII_Forte · 09-29-2003, 03:06

My mate had something like this happen in his XF 3spd, but it was cause by him accidently putting the car in park while it was moving.