Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle newbie doing tranny fluid change

Alright guys I want to see if you can give me some specifics on this range sensor and also tell me if this sounds like my problem. Problem being the car "searching" for the right gear while at cruise speed.50-60mph. The car shifts fine from a stop but when your at this speed the tranny sometimes is all over the place. It goes from od to 3rd then back again and sometimes it feels like it's goes into neutral and then bangs into a gear. I say sometimes cause it doesn't do it all the time. But when it does do it it's starting to get worse and more"violent" I don't think the internals of the tranny are going cause it shifts fine it's just this game it plays when your cruising at 45-60mph. Also when you slow down for a turn or light and you don't come to a complete stop and give it gas again, it feels like it's in neutral or not the right gear and it will have a small bang into the right gear. Hope you can help me out. I'd hate to have to bring it to ford and they tell me I need a new tranny.

From the research on this site I'm convinced it's the range sensor and it's starting to get worse so I have to replace soon. It sounds like it's a preety cheap part but how hard is it to change? Does anyone have a how to article or maybe some pics I can look at to see where it's at. I've read that it's on top of the tranny behind the water pump? Can I get to it from the bottom or top? It finnanly sprung a cel today so I'm gonna bring it to autozone just to make sure but can they clear the code there to get the light off once I hopefully fix it?

I bought the range sensor from ford today but want to make sure it's the right one since I'm not sure what it looks like. The part number is YL8P-7F293-AA. Does anyone know the correct part#?

I went ahead and change the range sensor but now I have new problems. My o/d light is blinking and the trans shifts very hard into drive which it never did before. At the time of this post I haven't driven the car it's just doing this in the driveway. And yes my markings are lined up when put in drive. Help please.

Update: I just took the car for a quick drive in my nighborhood and boy am I glad I didn't take it on the main road cause it's obivous I did something worng. The car only has one gear now. It's like it starts off in 3rd or od and that's it. There's no shift,no downshift when you floor it,nothing. I had to pick up speed just to make it up a hill. but I don't understand cause my aligment markings match perfect. what's up?

I would first check to make sure that your car only starts in the Park and Neutral positions.

From there... my only guess would be that your right, something is very wrong. Since noone here has ever installed one and it went poorly, I would then have to guess that there might be something wrong with the sensor.