Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting transmission problem I think

I have 98 Contour Sport 6cyl. I have a problem while I am driving at cruising speeds. It seems like the transmission is wanting to shift to a lower gear. The tachometer will go up 2000 rpms without increasing speed of the vehicle and then within about 5 seconds it will drop back down to normal rpms. When the rpms decrease the engine bucks like it's engaging the transmission. The position of the overdrive or cruise control have no effect on it. I have had the transmission flushed by a Ford dealer and they can't determine the cause of the problem. Please help.

have you tried spraying the mass airflow sensor with electric motor cleaner. you may want to try that. mine was having the same problem and i tried all sorts of things and it turned out my MAF sensor was dirty. all i did was take the metal cylinder out of the air filter box that the mass airflow sensor was connected too. and sprayed the little sensor inside with the electric motor cleaner. try this and let me know how it works out for you. if that doesnt work then im as stumped as you are.

Thanks Karlb. We will try your suggestion and let you know if it works or not. Susan

Susan,

How may miles do you have ?

If you disable the OD (OD OFF lit) does it still happen ?

How long, or how many miles, do you have to drive,
before this happens ?

I have 55k on my car. The position of the OD switch doesn't make any difference one way or the other. It usually happens after the car has runned warmed usually an hour or more. It does not happen every time. Thank you for replying to my question Susan

It sounds like you are experiencing the effects of a faulty MLPS which seems to be a common problem. See the following thread (scroll down to relevant info from "Big Jim" and myself):

http://www.contour.org/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=006030