• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

I guess I am LOSING my Contour

Just read all this post from start to finish and found it very informative. I would definitely go for the MLPS on this deal as it is only a 40-60 dollar part depending on where you get it. Think of it this way:
Drive to the shop AND TAKE THE RISK OF SOME OTHER PART FAILING ON THE WAY AND THEN PAY THE SHOP AT LEAST 1 HOUR OF DIAGNOSTIC TIME PLUS THE PARTS WHICH WILL BE MARKED UP A BIT.

Or...Buy the part and replace it yourself for the nominal fee and if you still need to take it to the shop, then you have much needed information for the tech who will be working on it. This is obviously an elecronic/sensor issue. There are only so many things that cause this common problem on our cars. If I were you I'd do it myself.
 
^^^^ Thank you for your comment!..

I will be ordering the MLPS tomorrow from the Macko. It is just $26 from them. It is an aftermarket but it will tell me if the issue is MLPS or not. They are also very close to me and very good with their shipping policies.

If I order it tomorrow morning, I will have it in my hands Wednesday. And replacing it would be no issue for me.

The only thing is that I heard of an alignment tool for MLPS. I wonder now if I need that tool to align anything. Or would it be just removing the old one and putting the new one in?
 
Well, I just ordered the MLPS from Macko. I also checked silverstateford and they were selling the OEM for $38 only but after shipping it was coming to $50. From Macko, it is $26+shipping($5) = $31. So I ordered it from them. I am trying to spend as little as possible.
The MLPS change is the last thing I can do about this issue. I changed the TSS and I know the VSS is good because speedo is working just fine. Also I replaced the VSS in 2004 after failing on me. (When it failed the symptoms were lot different than this. The car only had the low gears, speedo wasn't working and symptoms were always there. Nothing was unpreditable. The problem I am having now is whole a lot of different.)
If I am lucky, it might be the MLPS if not then I will go to a shop and that would most likely be the end of my 10 year over 100k miles journer with this car.
 
Hope that it works out for you, your problems sound veryvery similar to what I was experiencing with that bad MLPS
 
I need to order a MLPS also can you give me the web address for Macko? My local dealership wants $83 and I was told its called a TR sensor or Transmission Range sensor and not MLPS. Is this the same sensor because its definitely the same shift bang issue im having once i hit 70mph.
 
Tranny Rnage sensor or MLPS same thing.
draconianspark already posted the link for you post #36.

I ordered mine Monday and should be here at any day.

Man if this fixes my tranny, I will be soooo happy...
 
please update this link once you install the sensor to let me know how it goes
 
I always update my threads no matter how it goes. I will definitely let you guys know how the new MLPS works out. But chances that it will fix my problem is very slim. This feels like an internal issue with the tranny and no easy fix to that as everybody knows...

Well, I was expecting the sensor yesterday and didn't arrive. It should today.
 
Got the MLPS

Got the MLPS

MLPS arrived today. It is plastic as seen on the website and when I hold it in my hands, I could say that it is a refurbished one. I now wonder if the replacement is straight through. Is it just removing the old one and poping the new one in? Or any alignment/adjustment involved?
I will probably figure this out when I get to it this weekend but it wouldn't hurt to know in advance...
Thanks...
 

Attachments

  • MLPS.JPG
    MLPS.JPG
    86.1 KB · Views: 0
iskoos said:
MLPS arrived today. It is plastic as seen on the website and when I hold it in my hands, I could say that it is a refurbished one. I now wonder if the replacement is straight through. Is it just removing the old one and poping the new one in? Or any alignment/adjustment involved?
I will probably figure this out when I get to it this weekend but it wouldn't hurt to know in advance...
Thanks...
Click to expand...

IIRC it involves putting the car in neutral, because the mechanics did it while I waited and they needed to put choks under the wheels. I think I have a link somewhere to the install procedure so let me see if I can find it.

edit-yay I can edit my posts now
Found the document that convinced me to originally change my MLPS
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Ford_MLPS.pdf

Can't find the document about the installation but I really think you line up something for neutral. If anything you can find out where the dial should be for neutral with a meter using that pdf link. The guys at the shop did it in about 15 minutes without anything more complex than a socket wrench, and I think most of the work was taking off the intake baffle
 
Last edited:
Thank you man. I read (and saved) that pdf article and to be honest it gave me a little bit hope because I was having almost the exact symptoms the article was talking about: falling in neutral, no 4th gear etc.
If I am blessed maybe this would fix my problem and make me so happy again...

Now that you mentioned, I am very certain that there is a specific step that needs to be followed while replacing this MLPS. You don't remember much because you didn't do the work but I know people on this forum has the answer.

Guuuyyyys.... Please hear me out.
Please let me know what steps need to be taken in the MLPS replacement procedure.
Please...
 
found a guide @ autozone, but it describes some alignment tool that I am positive isn't necessary for the job. I don't know if this link is going to work without my autozone cookies, so I found it by selecting my car from the my vehicles list and clicking

repair info / vehicle repair guides / drive train / automatic transaxle ( on left ) / manual lever position switch ( on the left )

confusing!

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/re...+Range+Sensor&partId=0900c152800a8d72#hd1-1-1

edit: also some of the illustrations don't seem to match the descriptions, well, I did what I could ^.^
 
I have changed a few of those and never used an alignment tool. I can't remember if you need to have the trans in N or P. You should be able to tell as you try to change it.

I hope someone else jumps in here.
 
Thank you both...

draconianspark, I was able to view that repair guide. I have an autozone login. Yesterday, I also found another thread here where it says tranny must be in neutral position. So all these people cannot be mistaken. I will keep it in neutral while doing that. Removing the air intake assembly is something I have done probably 50 times(if not more) in the past 10 years. So I can do that with my eyes closed.

Like Jim says, I should figure out the rest while changing the sensor. I will do it tomorrow. Today was a very busy day for me and didn't have any time for it...

You guys will be the first to find out the result. Keep your fingers crossed for me. This is my last change to save my car...
 
MLPS Replaced...

MLPS Replaced...

Guys, I finally replaced the MLPS today(Sunday). Took me about an hour from start to finish. It was very straight forward: remove the old one and put the new one in.
I did follow the suggestion and remove the old sensor while the car was in "Neutral". And while putting the new one in, I realized that the sensor was already at Neutral position. So this made me feel that there is some reason as to why they recommend to do this in neutral. Though, I couldn't figure out the reason to be honest with you!..
If I hadn't been told, I would have replaced the sensor in the "P" mode I am sure. And one more thing I couldn't figure out: Why would somene need that special tool:shrug:
Really, NO tool needed for this DIY whatsoever.
Anyways, after replacing it, I checked all the positions. "D" was lining up with the notch and when I put it in "R", backup lights were coming on.
So everything was good and I fired up the car, went for a short test drive in the neighborhood but this didn't tell me much. Then I went for a shopping; 10-mile trip. It didn't show any symptoms; a first good sign... After that I drove the car two more times total of 45 miles and it didn't do any weird thing.
For the first time since this happened, my car reached to 50mph and she was doing alright. At 50mph though, I jerked the gas pedal suddenly and it hesitated. But it felt like an engine hesitation than a tranny issue. I had some other problems with this car and once I am sure this tranny is okay I will get to them one by one.
So far all I can say is that I am very surprized. I wasn't expecting this and I am now more optimistic. I do not want to say it is done now and put smiley faces here then come here again later in the week to put this :(...
You know what I mean right? So I will drive it on and off this week. And if I put another 100 miles without and incident, then I will call it a victory.
So far so good is all I can say right now...

If this fixes my tranny problem, you will see me unbelievable happy here guys. I mean it... I totally mean it...

Thanks so much guys (especially draconianspark) so far, and I will keep updating this thread...:)

Attached is a picture of the old and new(aftermarket) MLPS. The new one is quite smaller...
 

Attachments

  • Comparison.JPG
    Comparison.JPG
    90 KB · Views: 0
Absolutely great news so far man. I am glad to hear you didn't just give up on her and it sounds like you may have it beat. Congrats on the pending victory:laugh:
 
Moday Update!..

Moday Update!..

Yeah, this is an early and unusual update and I wish I could still say "Everything looks good so far" but I won't be able to:(
After driving 50 miles with no weirdness yesterday, I decided to drive her to work this morning and about 6 miles from home tranny went into neutral while shifting up to 3rd gear. I didn't want to belive it but it was real:( I immediately pulled into right lane and started driving slowly. At first the idea was to drive to work since I was already half way between work and home and I had driven the car many times in this state. But this time it was different. The symptoms were constant. The car was reving up and refusing to shift into 3rd whereas before the symptoms were totally random and I would only have problem to shift into 4th gear (sometimes).
So I decided to make a U turn and went back home to get my backup ride. On the way back home, there was only 1st and 2nd gear. I couldn't shift into 3rd even once. My top speed was 20-25mph.
Now, I could hear some noise from the tranny: a noise similar to the noise you hear when you drive in reverse gear. The noise is there on entire 1st and the 2nd gear as well as in "P". I could hear it when I rev up the car.
Well, I know none of this is a good news and after replacing the TSS and MLPS, I don't think I can be optimistic for another quick solution to this other than a complete tranny rebuild.
I can't believe that when driving the car all day yesterday, it wasn't fixed at all. It just didn't do anything weird and made me think optimisticly. But since I am always a cautious person, I didn't declare any victory. And I am glad I didn't.
I am sad really. I have been thinking about it all morning and still thinking. I just don't see any way for me to rebuild this tranny. I don't want to give up but it is just way beyond my ability to mess with ATX.

Well, I will pull her into my garage right now. Next month it was going to be 10 years since I bought it used in 1999.
 
Well it was worth a shot, that sounds something like an emergency mode I heard of when I was researching tranny stuff, but never a mention of any noise. It might be worth the time to bring it in to one of those shops that will scan the transmission codes for free.
Oh, an addendum to my story, the reason I needed to have the tranny rebuilt in my car to begin with ( and why I discovered the MLPS issue ) was because apparently the Cd4e has a real problem with suicidal a part they called the "2-3 snap ring" After all was said and done they told me that the neutral shifting caused by the mlps was probably what caused the thing to blow up in the first place, it was inevitable according to them but it was premature to say the least. Since you're having trouble getting from 2 to 3 maybe that's the same thing? I don't even know what a snap ring does, just that it looks horrifically tragic in a dozen twisted pieces
Wish that this could have been good news, you might be able to get the thing rebuilt for under $1500 if you find a good shop but there would have to be alot of sentimental value to the car to justify paying almost as much as the KBB says it's worth, no? I paid for mine because my Contour is the first car I have owned right out and I pledged to take care of her.

also a chance that there's something else wrong sensorwise or connectionwise that's making the transmission do this ( and make a bad noise? ) so if you can get it scanned or tested for free it'd be worth it for me. Not all transmission issues are internal gear-ish problems, that's one thing that the whole ordeal definitely taught me after all!

Well, enough of my rambling, I hope things work out for the best.
 
It was definitely worth every single penny I spent for this car. She served me 10 years 100+k miles.
Believe me if this car wouldn't be special, I would have let it go long time ago. None of my friends were able to understand why I was so persistent to keep this car. Well that was my first car here as well.
Anyways, I could go to a tranny shop for that free diagnose(if such thing exists:)) but I wonder how they will read any codes that my scanner couldn't read. Before all, my CEL never came on for the past couple of months. The other issue would be to drive the car to the shop. Up untill this morning, it was still driveable but now having only first and second gears, things are getting more difficult and scary.
And this is not the emergency (called as limp mode) mode. I had that thing happened to me years ago when my VSS went out. I had only 1st and 2nd gear and the shifting was pretty hard but then the car would not try to shift into 3rd no matter what I do. Now it is trying to shift only to find that it can only fall into neutral.
I was just going to ask about this tranny rebuild. Was going to ask how much it would be with the best possible scenario. You answered it pretty much. $1500 is about 3 times of what my car is worth to be honest.
And no matter how much I love this car, it would not be very logical to spend this much money for a tranny rebuild in these tough days. I can almost get another Contour for that amount.
If you realize no more people posting on this thread anymore because they all know where this is going to end up. No doctor wants to tell his patience that that's the end of the movie.

To be honest, I don't see myself as a person who cannot rebuild a transmission. It is not a rocket science. If others can do it so can I. The main problem for me to pull the tranny out of the car. The best way to do this is to remove the engine. My garage is not equiped to do this kind of job.
I heard that it was possible to remove it from under the car but that requires lowering the sub frame and that is another thing my garage is not qualified for.
So I can't fix it, if I can't reach it.

I will still keep the car though. You never know what future brings. :)

Thanks to everybody for their support...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top