Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Tranny Freakout

Today the ATX on "Sam Jr." started spazzing. It slipped into neutral in mid-shift on a hill for a second this morning, and made a couple of rough shifts that just didn't feel right, then this evening on the freeway it made a couple more wrong-feeling shifts and started blinking the OD-off light. It kept blinking until I shut it off. This was especially awkward because my parents were in the car (I was rescuing them from having locked the key to their rental in the trunk).

I checked the fluid and it was a bit dirty and down to near the bottom end of the marked range on the dipstick. I topped it up, and so far the problem has not recurred.

Could this mis-shifting be caused by a just mildly low fluid level? Or is my tranny at risk for eating itself alive, like the one in my old Rambler once did? (It had a pan full of metal shavings, yet kept mostly working for about a year.)

And what exactly does a blinking OD-off light signify?

O/D Off blinking can mean hundreds of things, you need to have the code scanned at Autozone.
It isnt a good sign though. You may have an internal trannmission problem.

Secondly low fluid can cause the tranny to shift odd and/or neutralize.

Yes, you can go to Autozone and see if they can pull a code for you. If they can retrieve one, please come back here and let us know. That will give us a lot to work with in helping you out.

While there, I would go ahead and grab for quarts of ATF (Dexron III/Mercon) and perform a drain and fill. A flush my not be the best thing in the world for you. You can read why here.

As for the drian and fill... Grab a 3/8" drive rachet and remove the plug from the bottom of the transmission. Let the fluid pour out. Once it stops, reinsert the plug and add 3.5 quarts through the dipstick tube. Start the vehicle and work it through all the gears, while holding your foot on the brake. Leave the engine running and check your fluid level and add as nessecary to top of the level.

Same problem I am having at mechanic getting diagnosed for $60 just to see what it is

I finally managed to check the trouble code on "Sam Jr." after getting my parents out of town. It came up empty -- no code was stored.

I thought one was supposed to use Mercon V fluid on '96 and newer Fords? Do Tours actually want Dextron III / Mercon non-V? Or is Mercon V something that subsumes regular Mercon-ness and is a good replacement for it?

dont use mercon 5

its very very bad...

use M-D III

Okay, I made sure to get Mercon non-V and did a single drain & refill. It took only 3.5 quarts. The old fluid looked pretty unclean. I gather that the total amount of fluid is much larger, and that a single drain&fill only changes like half of it? Should I do a second drain&fill to get the fluid to something like new condition? Or should I, as suggested in this article mentioned by usisys12, just leave it alone for a while after refilling it once?

It ought to be part of the FAQ on transmission fluid, perhaps, to mention that the hardest part of doing it yourself can be finding a place that lets you dispose of the old fluid...

Yeah, drive about a week, to get the fluid circulated well.. Then Do another drain fill, then wait another week, and do 1 more just to be sure..


Make sure you use M/D III


AND DONT MIX SYNTHETIC WITH NON-SYNTHETIC!
(sorry for caps, but thats serious!)

I'm supprised nobody mentioned the sensor mounted on top of the ATX that, when it goes bad, does that crazy shiz. Starts shifting into neutral, 2nd gear, drive, whatever. Seemed totally random. THen I found there is a sensor that was bad. Replaced the sensor, and it works great now!

Can't remember what that sensor was called though. Something like, shift selecter sensor? Whatever it is, its the sensor that tells the trans what your shifter is shifted to. Sorry for the lack of a technical description. But the sensor was only like, $35 IIRC.

Well, I refilled twice with Valvoline MaxLife D3/M, and so far there has been no recurrence of trouble...

Maybe in six months I'll trust it enough for a long road trip.