Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Poll; how far will I get on my bad ATX? vote now.

Quick Poll.
I'm going to 'drive-into-the-ground' my 97Contour, 2.0LZetec, atx, with 100K miles, and bad Tranny, until it breaks-down.
How far will I get before I'm FORD?

How Far Will my Bad Tranny Make It?
A) 100 Miles
2) 500 Miles
3) 1000 Miles
4) 5000 Miles
5) 10,000 Miles
6) More.......

A)100miles, B) 500, C) 1000, D) 5000, E)10,000, F) more.

Light driving, around town, minimal Highway driving. It's already on it's 2nd Tranny and I'm reluctant to spend another $2k on a 3rd, especially at 100kmiles on the odo. The tranny guy said it wouldn't cost anymore to have it fixed now or later should a Tow Truck bring it in....

2nd tranny, 100,000 miles doesn't sound too good. You might want to look into a new tranny guy.

How far did you go on your first tranny?

56,000 miles - but I didn't keep driving it once it started acting up - like I intend to do this time.

You are really looking for an answer that honestly cannot be given. I know how you feel and it is an easy question to ask, but no one can really answer it.

The correct answer is, if your tranny is giving you problems then take it to a shop ASAP and get it looked at.

Do we all follow that? NO! Should we? YEAH!

I am currently having tranny problems myself, but I know that mine are not that overly serious so I am driving. I have gotten around 3000 miles on mine. But keep in mind that my problems are not quit as serious as yours. My problem is a torque convertor clutch system malfunction and pretty bad case leak. It is also leaking from around the pump houseing. I do not have the money to send it to a decent shop and have it rebuilt the right way, so I am buying a 2000+ used tranny and installing it myself. Save my money and get the old tranny rebuilt and either sell it or keep it as a spare.

If you can get a spare ride, then use it! By all means take advantage of that! Your tranny issues will eventually put you down on side of the road in a neighborhood that is not the friendliest and everyone there will want pizza! LOL!

Are there prizes for correct guessers?

man...how many more posts am i going to come across from u?

i feel your pain, but geez....anyway the cd4e is built with a 'limp-home' feature that allows u to drive it even after a failure...it came in handy for me when mine went out ON THE FREEWAY!!!!...o/d (4th gear) burned out at something like 70-something mph while trying to merge to the right to get another freeway.

i lost second and fourth gear synchros but was able to get to my destination a few more miles away...check the atx level, top it off test it and then back down the freeway to the local furd mis-dealer...hit 70 all the way in 3rd gear but it was turning the engine at something like 4500 rpms...so i drove a total of maybe 20-25 miles on mine at highway speeds but i certainly dont think its a good idea...i was worried about pissing off my engine running in third for such and extended period

dont get yourself stranded by killing the thing entirely...and if u're not gonna fix it and plan on selling the car u're only hurting the amount u're gonna get for it which isn't all that much anyway...if u are gonna fix why risk making something else worse by continuing to drive it...driving it into the ground wont really punish the car for breaking on u but it will punish u if u mess up something else while beating on it

and no more new posts about it please

my friends new civic Si runs at 4000+rpm in 5th gear. crazy vtec. the blowing sound the exhaust makes at 5000+rpm is weird but sorta cool though.

I'm not big on "miracle" additives, but in ATX cars I've owned a transmission additive called "Trans-X" (blue can) has worked surprisingly well. It has stopped or reduced slippage and delay engaging drive when cold. Maybe using this will squeeze some more life out of the tranny. I last used it on my old beater, an '88 Corsica w/230k (yes it's true!) that ran strong but experienced a long delay engaging drive (~1 min) and slippage. The delay and slippage disappeared and the car ran well until I sold it at 260k. Give it a shot.

Thanks - I'll definately try that.
I also read that replcing the Transaxle Sensor has worked for some people.