Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting '96 2.5L ATX Transmission Dying,

Good afternoon. I have a '96 2.5L SE ATX with 68K miles on it and a Ford extended warranty (mistake). The transmission was replaced previously at 27K miles and has had problems since. Problems are mushy shifting, long delays engaging, dropping in/out of gear, etc. It seems like low line pressure or something similar. Lately the transaxle(?) growels when lightly decelerating. (Drive Chain? Planetary gear?) I have been to the dealer multiple times and each time they find nothing wrong and charge me $50. My question is - Has anyone had a good experience with the service department at any of the Jacksonville, FL area Ford dealers? Can anyone recommend a competent dealership tranny mechanic here? I have never had a competent repair from any dealer anywhere and I realize Ford rebuilt parts are a bad idea, but I really would like to get the tranny fixed or replaced before the warranty runs out. A Ford rebuilt tranny that lasts 50K miles for free is better than a good one for $2K. Thanks. p.s., I realize that recommending a dealer mechanic is revolting, but I won't hold bad recommendations against anyone.

Trade it!
I have a 96 SE with the 2.5 V6. I put a transmission in it at 97k miles and another at 141k miles. The cost to me was around $3,000 both times. Both out of warranty.

I had engine trouble upon leaving the shop for the 2nd transmission replacement, which has made my car ready for the junk yard. The 2nd transmission has about 8 miles on it.

Very often when transmissions go lots of "crud" winds up in the fluid. A lot of this crud can get lodged in the cooler, in the lower part of the radiator. It's very hard to flush all the crud out of the cooler. Many shops, that don't want to see you again, will either replace the radiator or bypass the cooler and put in an external one.
You transmission may just be suffering from having the cooler partially blocked. You may be able to salvage it by getting the trans power flushed and having an external cooler put in (with the old one bypassed).
Rebuilts will never last as long as the original. You can get pretty good life out of them by: using synthetic ATF, getting it changed every 20K miles and using an external cooler.

First of all, your Ford Extended Warranty is the best thing you could have purchased.
Don't think of it as a mistake.

Second, whenever you bring you car in for service and there is NO TROUBLE FOUND (NTF), then there is always (NCC) No Charge to Customer.

Bring in COPIES of ALL of your receipts showing all of the $50 charges you paid and ask for them to be refunded.
I have NEVER been charged for any work done that resulted in NTF.

Then since the transmission has been problematic for the last 41,000 miles,
I would call FORD Customer Service and Biatch to them about the service at your dealership.
Tell them that you want them to suggest to you which dealership you should
take you car to, while it is still under warranty, to get this problem repaired CORRECTLY.

You didn't drop $20k for this car, and expect FORD to leave it to you to get it fixed, did you ???