Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Warmed up = not shifting

Well, this is my first post to this forum, and depending on how bad the news is it may end up being my last
On friday the auto-tranny on my '96 Contour v6 decided that it was tired of shifting. I had driven about a mile and was stopped at a light and when the light turned green, I couldn't go forward. My rev's would climb but the wheels would not move. I turned the car off and then started it again and still nothi...wait it actually moved...and continued to move...until the next stop light. Same thing again, except I left it off longer. I found a place to pull over and had it towed to a tranny shop.
They finally got around to looking at it today. They test drove it and it again stopped shifting after about a mile. They are saying $350 to drop the pan and look at it and $1500-1800 for a rebuild.
I had it rebuilt last year after it died when I got rear-ended. No check engine light, no slipping or lurching right up until it died. I did notice a whine when I accelerated that wasn't there when I dorve it to school that morning.
Is this a dead tranny and I'm SOL, or could it be something simpler and cheaper?

Welcome . This sounds bad. You should ask if they can plug in a scanner which reads tranny codes while driving and charge a diagnostic fee (one to two hours maybe?) without pulling the pan. Is this the same tranny shop which did the rebuild last year? When you are at the intersection, do you leave it in D or do you put it in N or P? Trying to determine if it could be the Shift lever cable or MLPS (grasping straws). And was the "OD Off" light flashing?

I think they were diagnosing it but didn't get any codes from the tranny, or they didn't tell me what it said. This is a different shop than the one that rebuilt it last year, and I think that they went out of business. It was in D when I stopped the first time. I tried putting the shifter it in different positions at the next light. It shifts fine until you've driven for a little while and then it just konks out. The 'od off' light did not come on. The high pitched whine makes me wonder if it was a problem with a pump or a seal. Unfortunately I don't have a good tranny shop around that I know I can trust.

For $1500-1800 sounds to cheap. This does sound very bad. What color is the fluid? Do you have an aux cooler installed?
A reputible shop will scan the codes for free or a nominal fee.
Check all the small things first before going ahead for a rebuild again.
What about the VSS sensor?

The fluid was a little brown, but not really bad. I am going in to the shop tomorrow to discuss what their actual readings were and ask them detailed questions. I am probably going to bring it home and check all the little thing before having them rip me off. I don't have an aux. cooler-yet.

Now they are saying $1800-2800 for the "remanufacture not rebuild" of my cd4e. I guess the $1500-1800 was just a bait and switch.

They said that the valve body is the culprit, but the brown fluid means that other things have problems. How difficult/expensive is it to replace the valve body?

I plan to follow with a good flush (or two, or...) and the addition of a tranny cooler and secondary filter to extend the life before a rebuild.

I went and looked at it again, and the fluid is not just brownish, it is also sparkly (kinda pretty, but not good). I found another shop that said it would be $1600-1900, or $2300 to put in one that was already rebuilt. Thanks for all your help, but I think my tranny is FUBAR, and I'm SOL.

Try Sonax.com They have many good kits for the CD4E. There is a shift kit for the valve body. Also do the 3x drain and fill.
If you do take the pan off, put a few small magnets on the inside of the pan to catch metal particles-works great.
Install the remote filter kit.
Add 1/2 bottle of Lucas Trans oil-it works wonders.