Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle What kind of damage

I had written before about a problem with my automatic tranny randomly shifting up and down. I still need to take it in and have the codes read for me (the check engine light is on). In the meantime I had unpluged what the Haynes book calls the "inhibitor switch multi-plug". (just trying different things.) Anyway, with that said, my tranny will only stay in 3rd gear with the this unpluged, no matter where the shifter is. I can drive like this, but the car does accelerate a litttle slow (but amazingly not to slow) and I won't drive it faster than 70 mph. At around 70 the engine is at around 3500 rpm. My question is, how bad is it to drive it like this? I don't want to do any damage, but I don't have the cash to take it to a tranny shop. I would think that the only thing I really have to worry about would be the torque converter at acceleration, until it locks up. Any advice would be great!

You are looking at a $2K tranny and $2k engine rebuild eventually. Running on one gear is not what the car was designed for. And constant 3500RPM (cruising?) is probably not good for the engine too.

On your previous threads, you were advised to check/fix the MLPS ($50 part+labor) and/or shifter cables for it. As you refuse to listen to posted advice, well..., it is your car.

have you looked at the throttle position sensor (i think that's waht it is)? I had an old mystique that would randomly change gears...often banging when it did, or just stay in the wrong gear when it felt like it. There was some sort of sensor that the mechanic changed, that was supposed to sense how much throttle you were applying and select the appropriate gear.