Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle End of the road?

I have had a few posts here, over the past year, each one has predicted the end of my CD4E. Well, its been a year, and for the first time, I think I may believe it.

For the last couple of months the trans shifts softer (?) after about 10 miles of driving. From a stop the RPMs need to get a little higher to get the car moving. Nothing much, *maybe* a 200 hundred RPMs max.

Tonight was the Utah meet in SLC, about 60 miles from my house, mostly interstate travel. When I was about 5 miles from the meet, still on the freeway, it was like I clicked my e-brake on a couple of clicks. I felt like I was on flat ground, but the car downshifted/sped up then upshifted. It did this a few times until I met a bigger hill and it needed to downshift to go up the hill. Cruise was on at this time.

I get to the meet and am there for about a half hour when we decide to go get a bite to eat. Pulling out of the lot, I noticed that the RPMs did the few hundred climb to get moving. The trans had cooled considerably already so I thought it was strange but that was about the end of it. We got to the restraunt and were there for probably close to an hour.

Upon leaving the restraunt, I had a fairly substantial hill to climb to get back onto the road. I had slowed almost to a stop to make sure I wouldnt scrape. I got on the gas again, the RPMs climbed, almost freely, to 1500 then it engaged first and went. I kept doing this from a stop, but everything else was fine. I was watching my trans temp and it hadnt even reached 180F yet, ~10 miles from the restraunt. I stopped for fuel, and it did it again pulling out of the lot. Get up to speed and everything is good, as long as I dont stop.

About 2/3 of the way home, sub-interstate speeds, I notice that I now have a flashing O/D light. Trans temps havent broken 200F yet, mainly because of the speed I am moving. I did notice at one point in time, I was at 70 MPH and 2500 RPMS, so it would appear my overdrive was engaged even though the light was on.

Getting back into my city, I notice that I now have the dreaded bang-shift between 1,2,3, and overdrive is completely disengaged. I am keeping an eye on the temps and even though I am only doing about 40, Im at about 210F, which is perfectly normal for in town driving. I start climbing the hill to my house, where temps always raise, and I peaked at 230F as I parked it.

A couple of hours pass, the car has cooled so I go out to check it out. I start it up and the trans is at 100F, I pull out, noticing no late engagement in reverse. Put it in drive, lightly touch the throttle and the 1500 RPM engage is back. Its not a gentle slip into gear, its like I let the clutch out a fast but not enough to break the tires free. I had the car pulled back into first, the RPMS climb and I shift. It shifted hard enough that I damn near broke the front tires loose. I never got it going fast enough to make it into third. The car wouldnt have had a problem getting there, its 2am and I didnt want to go speeding around my neighborhood. The OD light is off at this time, and does come on going around the block.

From what I have read, it appears that my TSS would be the first place I want to look. None of the threads I have found have said anything about late engagement from a stop.

The trans has 136K. It has lead a slightly neglected life but it has gotten much better. It has a trans cooler and a remote filter installed (Baldwin B2-HPG). The last sample that was done on the old ATF, 9000 miles ago, showed high lead content, which they thought was gear marking compound, but all other wear metals were right in line with the average levels for a CD4E. Insolubles were at a trace levels. No moisture was present. The oil sample was performed when the ATF was completely changed. Im thinking that the trans isnt completely baked because the temp readings are the temp of the fluid exiting the trans. The late engagement scares me though.

Cliff notes: Late engagement from a stop, bang shifts, OD light (that is now off), reverse is good, OEM TSS. Temps never got extremely high.

Been there. It's on its way out. O/D Light is a dead give away. Soon it won't shift into gear, or into a higher gear like 2nd or 3rd. We have also had the late engagement problem when it went. Try the TSS I haven't heard of this being a problem before but I imagine it's a cheap fix if that is the issue. Our Zetec has had tons of transmission issues since the origonal died at 46K. It's been replaced 3 times. Rebuilt at least 5. Valve Bodies are the biggest issue. It may be you have deposits or buildups that are causing your issues. We have had a torque converter go out as well. The Zetec is again doing the soft shift on acceleration. I'm a bit fed up with it to be honest. If you get it fixed, do yourself a favor and find a post 2000 transmission. Or a new one if you can get it. While expensive it is your best bet to prevent future problems and you know the history on the transmission. I wish that I had done that in the beginning. I might not be having these issues again if I had. Best of luck.

By newbie 2 cents yet again, Not sure about all of your symptoms as I have yet to experience most of those.

But I think replacing your TSS with a new (and improved) one would be a good idea. It might just solve your problem, or most of them.

Personal experience - Owned this car (95 Contour) for about 5 years and about a week ago I noticed it shifting REALLY hard, particularly between 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4 a little rough but not terribly jarring. The TSS on my CD4E is factory OEM as far as I know, ie: 9 Years old. Rather than go to a Transmission shop and let them decide a thousand dollars or more would fix my problem, I thought i'd at least try to fix it myself.

Long story short, searched CEG, read a lot, called local ford parts place and ordered a new TSS. Took them 1 day to get it and thankfully it came with a new bolt for the new design. Pulled the old one out (Drivers side wheel at a hard left, removed splashguard, wd-40 and some pulling by hand) and put the new one in it's place after lubing the o-ring with transmission fluid. Reset the computer.

Good news - It shifts like I've never had it shift before in memory. Smooth enough that you can barely feel the shift between any of the gears, I'm happy, real happy - Thanks again CEG.

Bad news - I wish I had done this a long time ago, although it always shifted as well as I thought it should, I think that having the old TSS in for so long could have been causing unneccesarily hard shifting for the past few years that could ultimately lead to a shorter CD4E lifetime.

New TSS is 30$ and 15 minutes worth of labor is all goes well - Much gooder than having a transmission guy tell you the only thing he can do for you is a rebuild with you covering the tab. Try it, worse case scenario you'll have a new TSS to put in your rebuild/reman in the near future.


P.S. Anyone else who read this, I noticed that both my driver and passenger lower wheel well splash guards are no longer there. I thought I at least had the drivers side one a few weeks ago, I guess the fell out. Question is are these terribly important? I realize splashing water on hot metal can lead to cracking, but do any of you drive around without these for awhile with no ill effects?

Just my .02 about the splash guards, if Ford spends money on something it is for a good reason. I would try the junkyard for some.

The splash guards, in my opinion, mostly protect the Alternator and the drive belts. Without them water soaks alot more of the engine due to the water climbing the wheel. Long term is the thing to keep in mind. Race cars and off road comp vehicles don't use them but they aren't run very long.

Thats what I was afraid of. With 136K, I am still fairly happy with the life it did give me.