Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle ATX woes

So at around 138K my ATX went last month. The O/D started flashing one afternoon but I drove it home from work anyway. I had it towed to the transmission shop and $2,000 later I got my car back with a beefed up torque converter, rebuilt and honed valve body, new valves, and even an external tranny cooler. The tranny drove great but I had some suspension noise.

I was poking around the engine looking for the noise source when I noticed the shop left out a rubber spacer which is a subassembly of the driver's side transmission mount. Anyways putting in the part didn't solve the noise problem and the shop manager suggested I replace the control arm bushings. So I thought I'd replace it when my depleted funds made a rebound. I wasn't completely happy, but heh the tranny was better than new. Wrong.

I went out of town and put my Connie in long term parking. On arrival I let her warm up and drove out the lot a happy camper. As I drove I noticed my engine was revving in the 3 - 4 thousand RPMs. I couldn't believe it! I thought I put the car in the wrong gear so I stopped and shifted through all the gears. I started driving very slowly noticing each gear change and then it happened, FLASHING O/D LIGHT. F**K'ng A!! ... tow truck took her back to back to the shop.

The next morning I went to the shop and started her up and checked the fluid after the fans went off. Fluid level was kinda high but I didn't think anything of it. As I backed away from the I saw fluid gushing from the bottom of the car. The shop owner suspected a loose line or something very simple. NOT. I called later and shop manager told me the conical boot that goes on the dipstick was torn or installed incorrectly so my 3rd and 4th gears were burnt due to lack of fluid. Another complete teardown had to be done.

At the shop this morning I noticed the most popular car there was *you guessed it* the Contour. My car was the third one needing a complete rebuild. Thought I would share. Venting helps while I bleed rental car charges. Yes, the repair is on their dime, but you just know that this time the rebuild will be just as good as the first one and every necessary part will be replaced. Shoot me now please.

that is crap.

Well after 2 weeks, I finally got my car back today. I dropped off the rental car, pleaded my case and got away with only paying $620 in rental fees. So you ask "Okay his car is fixed so why is he providing useless ( sure it's sad but still useless) info to the forum, again?" Well hold on it gets better.

I'm driving on the freeway making my way back home, and *yes* the O/D light starts flashing. Upon seeing this I pull onto the soft shoulder and call AAA. You see even a blind deaf fool knows when to stop fighting and just take the tooling. Good news though, this time I didn't see fluid gushing out the bottom of my broken Connie. Also this time I didn't see the tachometer revving in the 3-4 K RPMs.

When I got home I did a search on "flashing O/D" and this symptom means either the tranny or the torque converter is slipping, maybe even both. In my dealings with the shop manager he said the previous TC was burnt so he ordered a rebuilt one from Transtar. So maybe the TC was defective? He also said the electronics in the ATX were "burnt up" or somehow damaged in an abnormal way. He and the shop owner suspected the battery blew up and tazed these internal components. I responded that the battery was replaced by a mobile AAA battery installer after I left my hazards on for 4 hours and completely drained it. They said couldn't prove otherwise so they had to take my word for it. But something they had never seen before damaged the electronics. Don't you just love it. Logic would say that if the ATX electronics were damaged by an exploding battery they would 1) see evidence of the explosion and 2) other engine electronics would also be affected. Either way they replaced all internal electronics with OEM components.

So I guess my question is can an improperly installed sensor or ? fool the computer into thinking a slipping condition exists? What other diagnostic codes besides P01744 are the cause of flashing O/D light? Basically, if there is another fix for this symptom what is it and what's the correct way to rule out a real slipping? The problem could be a slipping tranny or TC so it might have to come a third time, but I want to help these guys out. I need my car back.

Have you hugged your CD4E lately? The saga continues ...

So this morning I get a call from the shop owner. He says "Come pick up your car, nothing's wrong with it. The car was driven over an hour w/o a problem." Uhm, I thought, they fixed something and don't want to admit it. When I got there the owner explains that no codes were found and the tranny worked great. I asked if the car was driven on the highway because that's when the O/D light began flashing. He said no, since when the car goes over 40 MPH overdrive is working. Before I took the car I made sure to ask if the O/D light began flashing without the tranny slipping it was okay to drive the car back to shop. He said yes, but prefaced his answer saying the tranny was went over with a fine-toothed comb during the rebuild so nothing would happen.

I soon as I get in the car I noticed the gas gauge hadn't moved from Saturday. I guess they have a better way of driving a car so it consumes little to no gas. I filled her up and went straight to the highway. It shifted fine (smooth as butter) while making it to the highway. On the highway I took the same route as Saturday and BLAM the O/D light started flashing at almost the exact same spot. I called the shop and told the owner I was returning with the same problem.

When I arrived the shop manager broke out his scan tool and checked some readings. He then took Connie for a ride with the scanner hooked up. When he got the car I asked. "What's the code? Is it P01741, P07142, or P01744?" It was P01741. Thanks CEG. Knowledge is power.

I then asked if he thought the problem was the TSS and he said no and commented that the scan tool showed the RPMs were to high to be the TSS. He then said the problem was in the valve body, probably one of the valves was binding or not fully engaging after the tranny warmed up. He uttered something about the code not being there before when it should since P01741 is a "hard" code saved in memory. I didn't want to tell him some tranny codes aren't saved in memory, you have to capture them before turning off the car.

So for now it seems the problem isn't the torque converter. When I asked why the valve body was now failing he spoke of the original one (first rebuild) being burnt up from the battery explosion. Once again I explained there was no explosion, but it didn't make a difference.
I'm hopeful that since the tranny doesn't have to come out I'll be back in the saddle before Wednesday. I can dream can't I ?

This Is Simply Amazing....Keep Us Posted!!!

I got the car back today. As soon as I walked in the shop one of the workers asked me if I felt lucky today? Everybody's got jokes. When I got in the car I saw right away it was driven. When I filled up on Monday I returned to the shop after only driving 40 miles. Today I saw the gas guage was below the 3/4ths mark.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to hop on the highway. It was already after 5PM when I got the car and I didn't want to deal with traffic. Overall it drove fine, the tranny was responsive and shifted smoothly. If I really got on her I was in the 3K RPMs in no time shifting around 3300 RPMs.

Tomorrow I have an appointment in the same area of town where the O/D light likes to do its thing. Hopefully Connie really got a workout when the shop manager took her out today so it's really fixed this time. I don't ever want to see that damn light flash again.

The dealer invoice should show the mileage in. Compare to your mileage out and you will know how many miles they drove.

No luck. I hopped on the turnpike/highway and 10 miles later the O/D light was flashing. I didn't even bat an eye, I just called the owner and said it was doing its thing again. The shop owner replied that the car was driven for an hour yesterday and he didn't understand what was going on. Sure whatever you say .... For my CEG readers, I want to assure you I don't have a magical, different, perplexing or mysterious way of driving a car on the freeway. They're full of SHEIT.

On the way back home after the appointment, the O/D started flashing again so I brought it back to the shop eventhough the owner wanted me to wait till tomorrow (Thursday). The shop manager felt the only thing left to replace (minus the tranny) was the torque converter so he needed to order the part before I come back in. I thought fock that maybe there's multiple problems and they're doggedly chasing one issue when another issue is the root cause.

When I showed up the owner, didn't seem to happy but I said I wanted the scan tool to confirm the O/D light was flashing for the same reason. The shop mananger broke out the tool and began checking codes and whatever else. That's when I told him the RPMs had kinda jumped while I was accelerating. Before the light came on I saw the tachometer jump while accelerating from ~50MPH to 60MPH. The tach should gradually increase during acceleration but it froze at 2K for a while then jumped to around 2250 then gradually increased.

While scanning the manager had an idea; he wanted to replace the Turbine shaft sensor (TSS). He thought maybe the PCM was becoming confused due to an old or defective TSS. I almost blurted out, "But there's supposed to be all new sensors, remember?". A different TSS was installed and the manager took it for another spin. He came back saying the readings were now much better and explained why he thought the TSS could be the real issue. I was sent on my way.

After ten minutes of highway driving ... you already know, don't need to keep repeating myself. Tomorrow the torque converter gets replaced. I'll keep you posted.

1741...

Sorry to say it, but I think the rebuild was faulty and the clutch packs are now FUBAR. There may have been some fines in the tranny case left behind that are wearing out the packs, or the pump is worn & not able to generate enough pressure to keep them engaged.

Keep after them! Get your car on the road!

I believe you. Something very systematic is occurring and the O/D light starts flashing sooner now. It comes on after driving 1/2 or 3/4 of the distance it first occurred. The manager said he had another '99 CD4E rebuilt tranny (hopefully from a Contique) waiting in the wings if he needed it - but tomorrow they're gonna replace the torque converter.

Hopefully the car will really be *driven* this time so they'll know if the tranny has to come out again (4th time !!) to put in the '99 model. At this point I have to play it cool and let them do there thing. Least this time they're taking car of the rental car.

BTW I'm sorry I can't give more details. For instance I wish I knew what else the manager was doing with the professional scanner, but the situation is tense. Maybe they don't want to put foot in mouth if this thing goes the legal route.

Stay tuned.