Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Transmission Problem

I have 95 Contour with the 2.5 24V engine and automatic transmission. The gear changes used to be pretty smooth but recently it's become very "un-smooth" with the change from 1st to 2nd being the worst. The other gear changes aren't as bad but it's definately rougher than it used to be. If I acclerate fast enough the shift from 1st to 2nd will actually squeal the tires.

The car has 90,000 miles and the transmission fluid has been changed (by the dealer) every 40K miles.

The transmission problem started happening right after my wife took the car and ran it out of gas. I can't see how the two are related but you never know.

Anyone know what could be wrong?

Thanks,
Martin

i have a similar problem, dunno what it is, but im about to change my tranny oil to see if that helps

I also have a 1995 V6 24 valve duratec, automatic tranny. I had/have this problem and I took it into Ford about 2 years ago. They told me there is a bad seal in the transmission and that they want to replace my whole transmission. Well, needless to say, I didn't replaced the transmission. It still gives me a little jerk from 1st to 2nd. 2 years later, and I am at 168,000 miles. And it still does it. I won't replace the tranny until I can't get it into gear. Why fix it if it isn't broken. Yes, it is kind of annoying, but it's what - $2,000 for a new tranny? This is another common problem for our 1995 Ford Contour. My advice, just drive it. If you change the tranny fluid it may not jerk as hard. But that's your answer, a bad seal. If you want to fix it, replace the transmission.

Never had this problem...although I do think that it would be cool if it chipred the tires between 1-2, but the tranny fluid has never been changed, and the ONLY time it shifts harder than usual is when its cold. Other than that, it shifts just as smooth as it did when my great aunt first bought it. Oh, mine has 84K miles

I had a really rough/hard 1st/2nd shift after cleaning my engine. Seems that one of the signal connectors to the ATX got wet and the computer was getting confused. I reset the computer by disconnecting the battery for a few seconds and everything went back to normal. Might also want to check the fluid level (running in Park...) to make sure it's OK.

also have your tranny selector swith check it could be going bad it sits right o top of the tranny if you look right under the battery thats it i had my change and my tranny acts like its new i had the jerking and it would do it so hard it would make the check engine light come on and the (overdrive light was blinking the part cost me around 85.00 better than replacing the whole tranny

Good news! I took the car out today evening and I was expecting the 1 to 2 shift hard but it shifted as smooth as it used to. I couldn't believe it! So I tried it a couple more times and everything seems fine. It seems to have fixed itself.

I'm not complaining but anyone know what happened.

Thanks for all the replies,

Martin