Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Tranny is gone!

Super bowl sunday i was on the way to a party and when pulling off the highway tried to shift from 2nd to 3rd and nothing happened. The shifter just flops around now. Luckily i have 2nd gear and was able to drive it slowly home. I tried to move the counterbalance on the tranny itself to try to shift gears but that just flops back and forth. So pretty much my conclusion is that everything from the linkages back is fine and now its something internal. Where should i begin in further diagnosing this? I searched for some info but didnt really come up with anything conclusive. Any help is appreciated.

It sounds like a broken bolt in the shift tower. I had a similar problem which I'm getting fixed right now. Make sure if it is a broken bolt, that you get the bolt out of the tranny otherwise it can cause some serious damage inside the tranny.

I had the same thing happen about 8 months ago, but i was stuck in 3rd. Since my synchro was starting to go before the problem occured, i just went ahead and replaced the tranny... which i got a great deal on! $950 for a '00 tranny off a cougar with 20k miles on it and the price included installation. Good luck with yours though