Well...not really.

I need help and advice.

First off, hello all CO and SW CEG'ers its been a long time and I hope everyone is doing well.

Here's the dilema, Monday morning I'm driving on the highway at about 80-90 and I realize my car tranny isn't upshifting to OD like it should be at that speed. So, I look down to find that my speedo isn't working, the tach/fuel/temp appear to be fine. Then when I got off the highway at my exit I stopped and everything downshifted fine. When I went to pull away from the stoplight the car didn't want to shift into second and when it did it was very rough...and when I say rough I mean violent enough to cause my muffler to shake and 'thud' against the underside of my car. At this point I've tried nothing to fix it but I'm about to put in my other speedo from the tach equipped guage cluster I bougth some time ago. This speedo is the original speedo that came in the car only it is installed in a different cluster. Could the different cluster actually have killed my speedo? How much does a replacment speedo cost from Ford? I'm going to try and swap in the other speedo and see what happens.

I wouldn't be too concerned with this if I just couldn't drive on the highway, thats not to big of a deal. But, considering the violent way in which the tranny is shifting and its inherently flawed/weak design, I'm extremely reluctant to drive to car at all.

Take care all, as always ANY help is appreciated!!!

Regards,

Brad

Welcome back buddy! Since you have the pre-98 dash, my speedo is in a junk yard somewhere and if Chad ends up getting my car from auction, you could try and get it off of him. Hope you don't have any tranny problems or anything like that, because didn't you get that rebuilt not to long ago?

Sure he disappears for months but when he needs help look where he goes. This is going to sound stupid but have you checked the fluid level yet? I highly doubt a speedo gear is causing a hard shift.

Does the cruise work? Most likely the speed sensor if not. That would also explain the hard (confused?) shifts as well. Perhaps as simple as the wires have been disconnected from the trans somehow?

What's up Brad!

I dunno what to tell you about the speedo, but I've had a similar problem w/ the ATX in my van. It would shift so hard into second it would chirp the tires (that was kinda fun, actually ). I took it into Pontiac and it ended up being something called a "PC Solenoid". Now I don't know if that thing's universal to all ATXs or not, but maybe that could be the cause.

Hehe, I knew somebody would say something about me coming back after all this time to ask for help....and somehow I KNEW it would be Chris that would say something!

Anyway, I swapped in another guage cluster and got the same result, no speedo. I'm going to poke around the engine bay and see what I can find.

Thanks for all of the replies fellas, much appreciated!

Brad

Okay, so I checked all of the harness I could find easily and I checked every fuse and found nothing unusual. Where exactly is the speed sensor in this car anyway? Is it that module looking piece thats on the front top of the tranny right next to the battery? I'm going to run to Autozone here in a minute and have them pull the code for 'Check Engine' light I have. Maybe that will help narrow this down.

Brad, buy an SVT or get the exploder from your parents

I think that piece sitting on top of the tranny is for the back up lights. That's what it was on my SVT anyway.

Hope you get it sorted out again soon.

Mike

Hmmm...let me see know...buy another Ford...or get the Ford from my parents...mmm...nah, I think I'm okay. No more Fords for me. I'm looking at German cars for my next car...Audi, VW, BMW. I really like the new Mazda 6 and that RX8 looks pretty sweet...those are the only two domestic cars I'm even considering looking at for my next car.

domestic RZX8 and mazda6...hmmmmmm

Link to auto trans sensor

Chris, you ARE the MAN...I might just have to replace the sensor and see what happens. To bad its sunday and the dealers are all closed. Thanks bro.

Good luck.

Thanks...on another note I went with my buddy and test drove a 2003 M3 Convertible. And I would definately love one of those but I don't have 60 grand to get one so I guess I'll keep looking. It had a neat feature on the tranny called SMG. Its and adjustable system that makes the tranny shift faster and harder or softer and slower. The M3 also had paddle shifters which was pretty sweet, I little weird to get used to but cool.