Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ATX overheated?...O/D light flashing

Hi all,

Well, me and the woman decided to go on a nice trip to Reno, nv this week since the hotel prices are dirt cheap. Anyway, I have to drive over the sierra mountain range to get there. When we were driving over the sierra's I noticed my O/D light flashing..but my car was acting normal. In fact, It felt like it was climbing the mountain pretty good. For safety reasons, I pulled into the first gas station I could get to. Keep in mind that engine temp was fine. I opened the hood and was surprised to smell a smell I haven't smelled before in my engine bay. Turn's out that the atx fluid was leaking from a small black hose that comes out near the battery. I checked my fluid and it appeared ok...in fact, it was overfilled. I figured the fluid was hot and giving a inaccurate reading. I let the car cool for a bit and then continued driving. Sure enough after about another 30 mins of driving the o/d light was flashing again.
I pulled over let the car cool and notice a little more fluid might have come out. Then we continued driving and it didnt' happen again. I checked the fluid the next day and noticed that the fluid was still over filled. I wonder if ford over filled my tranny at my last tranny change. The drive back was fine and it acted normal. I have heard that the o/d light flashing is a prelude to something really bad happening. Is that my case or is it that the fluid level just got too high and that is what made it blink. I am looking into at this time, installing a small tranny cooler to help with the tranny fluid temps and to help prolong the tranny life. Has anyone had a similar experience or can someone shed some light on this. I'd really really appreciate it. Thanks

You don't say what year, engine and mileage you have. I have a 97 2.5L with 131K, and have had sililiar problem with O/D light flashing. I didn't have an overfill problem, just plain old worn out. Getting new tranny tomorrow. If you go up a hill with a steady foot on the gas, and try to accelerate slightly, and you notice the tach rev slightly, lay off immediately. Go up hills with an even pressure on the throttle. You won't put any strain on the transmission that way. Could be that torque converter is slipping. Also, does your check engine light (CEL) go on? If it does, get it checked out at a garage, Ford or not, and find out what the error code is. That might give you a better idea why it came on. I know it did for me! :p

Thanks for the reply..sorry I forgot to post my mileage and year. Its a 98 Contour SE with 44k miles. I don't think its time for my tranny to go but is this a warning sign.
Also, since the fluid did seem to "boil over" I was looking to install a tranny fluid cooler but not many places to mount it. Does anyone know if this is something we could install on our cars to help extend tranny life?

SilverATX,

You are experiencing the same problem that I am having.
Read my posts here...
http://www.contour.org/cgi-ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=004442
http://www.contour.org/cgi-ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=004369

Both times, it happened right after having the transmission fluid changed.
Some coincidence, huh ??

I am installing an ATX Oil Temperture Gauge to monitor what this ATX is doing.

Well, It looks like its a good thing I got the 6 year 100k warranty then. I really hope it isn't failing. I don't have a way of checking error codes but I do know its about time for a tranny fluid change. The fluid looks great though. Its a very light pink...not dark at all. When this all happened..I didn't notice any real hard shifting but maybe some strange shift patterns like not wanting to go into overdrive intil my foot was all the way off the gas. I was climbing a constant grade though. Thanks for the input. Every story I read gets me a little more worried about the cd4e tranny. To think they put a variation of this tranny in the Escape!!!

OK, I'm glad (and sorry) to see some other post about this. I have a 95LX with the 2.5/ATX and I too had trans fluid spewing out of the vent hose after the dealer over filled it. The fuild was toast as well! And it had only been a couple thousand miles since being serviced.

Anyway, this tranny has been very hard on the fluid. The main symptom has been it not engaging when cold. Doing a flush and keeping the fluid fresh kept the problem under control until last week. It started again suddenly, and real bad. I did a 16 qt flush and it was/is totally dead now. Only engages briefly when the engine is revved. Due to economic reasons I'll be fixing this my self. I'll be sure to post the results.

I got in on the Group Buy for the OBD-II software buy.
Today I was scanning my PCM while driving and the TFT (Transmission Fluid Temperature) spiked at 447 F !!!
I was cruising at 70 mph on LEVEL GROUND when this happened!!
The flash point for FORD Mercon is 437 F.

There is definitely something mechanically wrong here.

Pete...

thanks for the info..how much is the software going to be and do I need a laptop...(gives me an excuse to buy one)

447 degrees is way way too hot...250 is to hot even. Regardless if its mechanical or not..i'm looking into installing a tranny cooler. I have read posts at the neco site and they have a transmission performance section on their forums. Several people have installed these coolers and noticed more predictable shifting when the car is hot. Of course this would help tranny life also. I have been advised not to do it and let the radiator do the cooling..but for 30 bucks and a hour of labor...what the hell. I don't think my little non-svt radiator does enough cooling for the tranny.
Anyway, keep me posted on the software buy..I am interested

*sigh* lol just re-read your post...N/M...you already got in on the software buy...sorry had a long day. I'll have to keep an eye out for that deal when and if it comes around again

Had similar problem. Happened one day then it stopped. Haven't had a problem since then. Should I be worried?