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ATX Problems

S

SloTour

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
120
Ok, I was getting on the on ramp and I gave it hell getting on the highway. The next exit which was only a mile apart, was my turn. As soon as I got to speed I put the tranny in neutral to save a little gas. As I was slowing down I put it down in 1st (instead of drive) doing about 25. Of course the car pulled back and revved high (4-4.5k) I threw it back into drive and now it seems like its down shifting when it feels like it.

I will be driving around 35 and let off, it down shifts and bounces off 4k. I drove home and parked it, disconnected battery (maybe to reset something.)
 
Well...lesson learned? Don't fiddle with your gears when you have an ATX. That short amount of time you had your car in neutral probably saved you 100ft worth of gasoline while driving, if that. :)
 
You really shouldn't be down shifting like that on an ATX. Leave the computer to do the shifting. The only thing that not harmful to the trans that your doing is the shift from drive to neutral. But the down shift to 1st is bad when your already in gear on an ATX.
 
Yeah, I have NEVER needed to use 1st on my car. Never ever. I've only used neutral when I was pretending to be a wicked cool ricer and I revved my engine (STUPID REV LIMITER ARGH lol) cuz I was sporting the "no muffler" look, seeing as I had fried it. It was so hilarious :).
 
SloTour said:
Ok, I was getting on the on ramp and I gave it hell getting on the highway. The next exit which was only a mile apart, was my turn. As soon as I got to speed I put the tranny in neutral to save a little gas. As I was slowing down I put it down in 1st (instead of drive) doing about 25. Of course the car pulled back and revved high (4-4.5k) I threw it back into drive and now it seems like its down shifting when it feels like it.

I will be driving around 35 and let off, it down shifts and bounces off 4k. I drove home and parked it, disconnected battery (maybe to reset something.)
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A few things wrong here. When you put the tranny on neutral, you use more gas when you are slowing down. When your car in in gear and you take your foot off the gas pedal, the PCM shuts off the fuel injectors.

When was the last time you changed the ATfluid? If more than 2 years or 24K miles, it might be time for that.

In addition, if your "OD off" light flashing with your speedometer going wacko or not working at all, then your Vehicle Speed sensor could be broken.
 
I changed the tranny fluid about 4k miles ago (64k on car) and no, the O/D light isn't flashing. It's just down shifting when it shouldn't, it will even peg the car out at 45 and bounce off the limiter.
 
I'd scan for codes next. If it still did it with battery disconnected, code will be stored from your driving since.
 
Ok, reconnected battery this morning. Let the car warm up and didn't beat on it going to school. Left for lunch and went to Sonic, let the car warm up and did some "spirited" driving back to school. So far its shifting nice and smooth again. From now on, I won't take that ***** outta gear for nothing.

Thank you everyone
 
Ok, drove home today and its still doing it, only around 60-70 though. It seems like it hits 4th to cruise but then when i let off the rpms drop to idle and I give it gas it down shifts to 3rd and hits 4k and just bounces around.
 
Does your O/D off bulb work? I recommend turning O/D off and try driving it to see if the bulb works, and to see how it drives. If there is a problem with your tranny the O/D off blinks, IIRC Tony mentioned this...
 
Ok, found out the wires are all chewed up to the O/D switch in the casing. Jumped the two for O/D drove around and seemed fine. Got into the highway and worked good tell I dropped down to 45 to slow down and it started catching again, it was almost like O/D was turning on and off.
 
Hmmm. This is very interesting. If it is the case, where your O/D is shutting on and off, it sounds like your having problems with a short, as you stated with your wires being "chewed up." Maybe, if you're good with this sort of thing, you could rewire this, even though I wouldn't generally recommend it. However, it IS bad to turn O/D on and off like that. It's very stressful on the transmission at high speeds.
 
Well, I pulled the O/D switch apart from the connector into the rest of the harness. Didn't seem to help, would it matter even if the switch wasn't connected?
 
SloTour said:
Well, I pulled the O/D switch apart from the connector into the rest of the harness. Didn't seem to help, would it matter even if the switch wasn't connected?
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LOL I doubt anyone would know that. I mean, who has even tried that before? haha. Try and rewire it. But I do recommend bringing it somewhere to get fixed. That doesn't sound good at all man.
 
Yah, I wanna say it might be the manual lever position sensor, but I am not sure. I might goto the junkyard tomorrow and see if I cant pull like 5 of those.
 
Also, I tried going from 1st to 2nd and in 2nd the car bucks and the RPM's jump around like its going to shift into 3rd. Then I put it into Drive and it shifts into 4th fine.
 
Well, for anyone that cares. It was the MLPS, pulled two from junkyard. First one did even let me crank. Second one started right up, when straight to highway and its all gravy now.

Ordering a new one from Ford tomorrow morning.
 
Great topic with happy ending! Just fix o/d switch so you can keep the revs down and save gas, makes sure it has slack in wires so you can move lever.
 
FavoriteMystaque said:
...makes sure it has slack in wires so you can move lever.
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Couldn't help myself...but how messed up/hilarious would it be if someone did this and DIDN'T leave enough slack, and just ripped it out and had no idea and it started like shorting out or something. Haha, just the thought of it. Sorry :p
 
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