Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Transmission gone - again??? (atx O/D light)

Last night (while delivering pizza's) my O/D light started blinking (again) and she won't shift out of 1st until I bumped the gas. Can't get it to 3rd at all. (BTW, this was after I noticed a funny oder about 30 prior). Fluid looks clean and is about 'half-way' - will cap it off in the morning.
The first time it did this sort of thing was at about 60k miles (2+ years ago). Had to have the atx rebuilt (AAMCO) to the tune of $2000.
I'm now at 100K miles and it looks like another rebuild.....
So, if there's a trend here....it's...$2000 every 40k miles.
Is that typical for an atx rebuild???

Should I get another tranny (for $2000) or is it time to bury the Contour????

Thoughts anyone? please.

Tim Eggenberger
Huntsville, Alabama
97 Contour Sport; 4 Cyl auto 2.0L SFI DOHC - 100k miles

Tim, a year ago when my o/d light was blinking and transmission shifted crazily, I took her into Ford who told me, "you need a new tranny. Its 2500 bucks" To make a long story short, I took it elsewhere and the good mechanic there found that my shitty plug wires were interfering with the speed sensor causing it to be out of range. It cost me 100 dollars. I went back to Ford and said "remember me? Well..."
You should get it scanned and if they tell you another transmission is in order, get another opinion. Good luck, John

That doesn't sound too great as I have an ATX myself. A few questions though. Do you drive your Contour really hard? Like a lot of stop and go or heavy acceleration? Did you ever have your atx serviced at the 30,000 mile intervals like recommended? When you said halfway, I am assuming you meant halfway into the safe range on the dipstick. If your transmission was good and warmed up and you checked it while I idling in park and all that, I would not fill it past 3/4 up the dipstick. You want to leave it room in case you run it a bit warm one day although I think it has a breather. With factory charge mine is usually about 3/4 of the way up after its good and warmed up (100 miles). BTW, what kind of smell did you notice? Was that 30 minutes or miles? Let me know some more info. Hope you don't need a rebuild.

Hi Jon500 - thanks for the info.
Here are some more details:
I actually sort of baby it, especially after having the tranny rebuilt the first time.....I do deliver pizza's so there's alot of stop/go/backup, etc. but I still think I'm easy on it. (I've only put on about 600miles so far doing Pizza's).
No, admitedly, I did not have it serviced at 30k
Yes, halfway up the dip stick - in idle, car was warm, went thru all the gears prior.
The smell was about 30minutes before the problem started - it wasn't electrical (that's one smell I know intimately).

Today I'm going to try a few things:
1) Reset the computer (saw where someone fixed there O/D problem that way)
2) Drain and replace the fluid.

Thanks,

hey yeah this seems like the same type of post I had the other day. Teggen...I tried doing the whole resetting the battery thing, and didn't seem to work. I guess I'll be looking for some mechanics to find out the prob.

JMatzick had a good idea. I would check for bad sensors and electrical problems first before you start replacing the transmission. Be sure that you flush it good and pump out all the fluid, or however that works. I am not real familiar with the transmission on my car as I have not had to have it serviced. Get that done and make sure the fluid is at the right level. Check for electronic problems and if none of those fix the problem, you had better check with a mechanic who KNOWS what he's doing. Good luck. As for the smell, I can't really help because I don't know what it smells like and even then I may not know. Just keep an eye on it if it does it agian and note the conditions it happens under. Hope this helps.

UPDATE:

Well, I replaced the Tranny Fluid. After draining the old fluid, upon inspection, it didn't really look that bad - a little darker than the new fluid, but no 'shavings'to speak of (There was some small Flakey, skin colored stuff ??? not metal though).
Put the new fluid in and took it for a drive - no change, problem did not go away.

Guess it's off to AAMCO again.

I avoid AAMCO like the plague. Their name stands for ALL AUTOMATICS MUST COME OUT. PHH, the leasing company my company uses, uses them and freekin Firerock tire joints. Every vehicle they had ends up worse than when it first went in. Takes 2 - 3 visits and 2 - 3 grand of repair bills. They are charging you more than the car is worth. I would find an independent shop and scan the codes first.

OK, I'm going to look for something Electrical and hope my problem was is easy as yours was......

I just got back from a tranny shop. Guy put a scanner on it and it showed a P0732 and P0734(?): Incorrect 2nd gear Ration and 4th gear ration.
He said it needed rebuilt = $1900.

What do I need; new spark plug cables? Sensors? anything else.

I hope it's something electrical........but, not to be pessimistic.......wouldn't it have been more intermittant since the last rebuild if it was electrical?

Sure appreciate everyone's input - gotta love the web.

I would check the main connector coming from the tranny. It has wires for both VSS and converter so if it's corroded...