Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ATX probs, Wife on trip with car, need advice

98 Contour, 2.5L CD4E. 130K miles.

Wife called last night while she was on the way to Kansas City from St Louis. Reported harsh shifting started about 75 miles into the 200 mile trip. She was 197 miles into the trip when she called.....go figure....

I had her use 2nd for all low speed driving and told her to manually shift into D when she got up to speed (she was in stop-n-go construction at the time).

Recent history: Car has been exhibiting intermittent shifting problems that began, coincidentally, with a PCM replacement in early Feb at a Ford dealer for an emissions system fault. First day I picked it up, I drove it about 1/2 hour and noticed harsh shifting, a CEl, and a P1744 code. Cyled ignition, shifting returned to normal, and cleared code the next day. Transmission appeared pretty normal until last week when the wife indicated the sypmtom was re-appearing.

I had just flushed the tranny about 2-3 weeks ago. After doing some research here, I bought and installed the new Ford design TSS on Wednesday. Drove car about 100 miles that day, drove perfectly. Wife drve it to work the following day (80 mile RT), but didn't mention that it had started shifting harshly again after driving a distance. For some reason, she decided to take it to KC anyway instead of the 94 SHO...

I suspect that it's lost control of EPC pressures whether due to mechanical failure in the tranny (VB, probably), or that the computer is operating the tranny in "failsafe" mode.

My immediate question is:

What driving advice can I give her that will maximize her chances of getting the car back home that do not involve either AAA or a tow dolly?

She'll be heading back sometime on Sunday, but I'm scheduled to work both this afternoon and tomorrow, so I can't easily drop everthing and run across the state to retrieve her and the car.

Once I get it home, I can do some diagnostics on it and make the necessary repairs, but I need to get bot the car and the wife home first...

Thanks,

Steve

Your TC is slipping (code 1744) probably caused by a stuck by pass valve and the ATX is in limp home mode. With the TC slipping a lot of heat is generated inside the TC and the fluid will eventually start to boil if the slip is bad enough. You might get away with driving slow (stay off the highways) but if were me, I would tow it back. I wouldn�t want my wife getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead tranny.

jeff

Hmmmmm.....

I'll decide in the morning. Might just call in and tell them I have an "eye problem" - just can't see myself coming in.... It's just a part-time job that, for the day, would barely fill up my F150 with the day's pay.

I'm leaning towards seeing if I can locate a trailer or tow dolly and going and getting it and the wife.

I think if the tranny hasn't yet fried the TC, I might get away with only a valve body to fix it. I'm leaning towards the sticking valve that mercman mentioned as the likely cause.

If the tranny fries, I know my wife is going to want to dump this car and replace it, probably with a Lincoln LS8 that she's had her eye on for the last year or so. Can't afford that any time soon, just built a new house last year.... Taxes alone on this thing will make a new tranny for the 'tour look cheap when the county finally gets around to assessing it at its market value.


Later,

Thanks, guys.

Steve

I would also tow it back and drive it as little as possible. This will minimize any further damage. It's not worth having your wife stuck on the highway for. I just drove that stretch between KC and St.Louis myself. Nobody does less than 75 mph so safety is a consideration here as well.
Good Luck.

Well, taking the day off and heading to KS with the F150 as soon as I locate a trailer or a dolly. A couple of family members have trailers, so I'm hitting the phone.

Thanks, guys!

Steve