I hav been having probelms with the shifter for the last 4 months it all started a week after i bought the car, 99 csvt. It is still covered under a limited warranty so i brought it to ford, the tech rep tells me that there is an aftermarket shifter(B&M) and some of the access panels are missing under the car so they will not even assess the situation under warranty, he did however say that if I wanted to I could pay the flat hourly charge or get it fixed somewhere else and then submit the bill to ford and maybe they would cover it, MAYBE.
I forgot to mention that the original probelm was a grinding when trying to get into 2nd gear, its a situation where I put the stick into 2nd then let the clutch up and the lovely grinding sound can be heard for blocks. Not haveing been able to fix the grinding probelm, I have now just recently been experiencing a new problem.
I have read posts on here about there being problems shifting when its cold, I believe it was described as shifting through peanut butter, well just the other night, a hot 80 degree ngith in new york, I was waiting at a light and I could not for the life of me get my car into 1st or 2nd gear. And after getting in I notced that the shifting was very notchy after that. I must add that the shifters centering spring was taken out, but before I had this notchy problem the stick would always return itslef to center when pushed to the left or right, now it just stays it its last position as if it where stuck in some peanut butter.
The car goes into all the gears except the original problem with 2nd, but I dont know how this sudden nothchy/peanutbutter sitiuation came about. I am not the most technically savy when it comes to cars, nor do i have the money or time to fix them and I think that I am experiencing the famous ford EXCELLENT customer service that bill ford talks about on tv.
I have no idea what i should do, at first i wanted to cancel my warranty and try to get some money back so i could afford to pay another shop that specializes in transmissions to look at the car, but then I got worried that if in fact the transmission was actually bad then ford would have no obligation to fix it.
I am up the creek without a paddle, car, 2nd gear, and my atm card is empty.
Please can someone help a wounded ford owner
thanks
keith
