Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 2 questions.....need help

i have 2 questions if anyone could help me i would appreciate it i have a 95,contour gl, atx....the first one is simple in fact im a bit embarassed to ask but im not sure how to read my engine oil dipstick there are no markings on it just two little notches on the side of the stick.....second is a big one.....i have about 144,000 miles and a few months back the tranny started jerking a bit rough from 1-2...i took it to the shop and they told me i need a new tranny....i figured that they just want my money so i just had the thing flushed and it ran fine for about 3 months....now recently its alot worse...its jerking like before and now it seems like the gears are switching at the wrong time( sometimes )especially if i drive over a bumpy road...when it starts shifting wrong i lose speed a bit too...also noticing a high pitched whinning sound when this happens it sounds like a loud version of a small electric motor for a remote controll car...its been doing this for a while...i still go to work with it every day without a problem so far but i know i wont be so lucky one day.....please help!!!! im not much of a mechanic and dont have much money right now and i cant afford to be ripped off....

Your vehilce manual will show you that the second notch is the fill mark. 4.5 quarts.
Take your vehicle in and get it scanned for codes at a reputiable place.
The CD4E is a touchy trans at best so don't take chances or you will find yourself walking.
There are many symtoms which could cause the tranny to do the things you discussed.

The shop may be right and you may need a new tranny but if it were me, I'd try all the last grasp straws first. What is your speedometer doing? Is it going to zero when this is happening? VSS issue ($40 part). When you go from 1-2, does it bang real hard? TSS issue ($25 part). Is it hunting for gears and seem to be in two gears at once? MLPS issue ($50 part).

VSS change by unisys.

"VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor)

I had to change my VSS late this afternoon, so I thought I would walk you guys through the process on my Duratec/CD4E. It's really not all that bad, except unplugging the connector. My symptoms were pretty simple... Bouncing/in-accurate seedo and once that was bad enough, the tranny would not shift properly.

- Secure the vehicle, in the air, safely.

- Remove your air cleaner & tubing.

- Reach down, under the brake booster, and locate the VSS connector. You can actually see it better from the bottom, just no way to actually reach it from there. It will take some serious single handed twisting to disconnect this connection, but don't give up!

- From under the car, use a 5/16" wrench to remove the single bolt from the VSS retainer. * Note that this retainer looks like it is upside down, with a tab resting on the case of the tranny. Don't fret! This is normal, but be sure to replace the retainer in the same way that it was removed.

- Grasp the sensor body and lightly wiggle it out of it's location. Use gently force when wiggling, but apply steady pressure upwards. The sensor body should slide right out. Do not jerk upwards on the sensor, when removing it, or you will run the risk of gear coming off the end of the sensor. This is not a real big deal, since the gear itself is about an inch tall. Along with the added shaft that is part of the gear, the gear assy is probably around 4 inches long. You should be able to grasp it with a pair of crooked needle nose pliers, but it would be one hella tight fit!!

- Once the sensor is out of the case and you have removed the gear assy from the sensor body, use a rag to wrap around the body of the sensor base. This part of the sensor is metal, so we don't want to damage it. Use a pair of pliers and grasp the metal part of the sensor. LIGHTLY! Do Not Squeeze Hard!! Just apply a small amount of pressure here. And use a 1" wrench on the plastic part of the body and seperate the two halfs.

- At this point, you get simply reverse. But something that I should note here... There is a seal on the metal half of the sensor base. Be sure to inspect this seal closely or better yet, just replace it. Also, be sure to clean everything really good and lube everything down with CLEAN ATF before putting it all back together.

Part number of the sensor - F-F5RZ-9E371-BC

Cost of part - 44.67 + tax = 47.80

Part was purchused from local Ford Dealer

Reason for sensor replacement - Notice about a week ago that when traveling over bumpy roads, that my speedometer would fluctuate +/- 5mph. Monday, of this week, it progressivly got worse (of course) and the speedo would actually stay at 0 when taking off from a stand still, as well as droping to 0 when I let off the gas. In only 60 miles of driving, on that day, it managed to toast the ATF I had in there, which only had about 5K on it. Yes, I have also changed my ATF as well."

From Autozone for VSS change
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/cb/ad/0900823d801bcbad.jsp

Turbine Shaft Speed sensor issue.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tranny&Number=257675&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
and this
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1030582&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

MLPS change.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1040336&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

The tranny shift lever cable is below the car.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1116780&Forum=trouble&Words=shift%20lever&Match=And&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=3months&Main=1116416&Search=true#Post1116780

and from Autozone.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/d3/97/0900823d801bd397.jsp

its not banging hard ...its more like a jerky kind of surge on acceleration....the speedo dosent drop to zero.....and it does seem to feel like its stuck between gears or searching on occasion(3 times in 3 weeks i would say).....also the shifter dosent always click into its proper slot i sometimes have to move it from one position to another to get it to lock in properly....could the shifter be causing some of the problem?? i wonder if i have a combination of issues causing all the troubles....the most frustrating problem is that im not much of a mechanic and i have no space where i live where i can work on it...and no garages in my area are willing to replace a sensor for me on request...in fact the most popular reply by the different places i went to is "you cant just go replacing sensors" which i know is b.s because its not gonna hurt anything to replace them...im still getting around with it for now and it runs fine for highway driving ..but god knows im probably raising my repair bill every time i drive it in its current condition...