Arggh - ran transmission VERY low- will it ever work again?

[clydesdale]

VSS?

What do you think I damaged? It does not slip, it just hangs in 1st too long and shifts too hard. If I go slow until it shifts into 2nd, all is good. A friend said that I may have stretched one of the bands and that it might be able to be adjusted. I am not sure if that is possible at all. I do not know the anatomy of what is in there. I have been VERY good with maint on this tranny and it has gotten motorcraft filters and Mobil 1 every 30k and it is driven very calmly. Thanks

[Lgbpop]

Multiple things can go wrong with any car at any time, oftentimes coincidentally with other, known problems. The delayed/hard upshift is often caused by the VSS, and that may just have happened completely separately from the fluid leak. Just something to be aware of.

There are no bands in a Taurus tranny that I know of. Everything is fluid-driven until the torque converter locks up.

[JohnSawyer]

clydesdale, there may be some hope. Your experience and the results sound nearly identical to mine with my Gen 2 Taurus and its AX4S a few years ago. Lots of ATF leaked out through a sudden gasket breach (transmission pan or side cover) over the course of a day or two, and I didn't notice until shifting became strange, clunky (especially when pulling away from a stop), etc. It hasn't been the same since, though it got significantly better after I replaced the filter and did a complete pumpout/replace of the ATF following methods described here on taurusclub (I put in conventional Mercon III instead of synthetic because for my older transmission, Mercon V hadn't yet been fully approved for it).

But the transmission still didn't work as well as I wanted--still some clunking when pulling away from stops, slow shifting and thus slow acceleration, etc.--so after a bunch of research on what I could do short of actual hardware repair ($$), I put a bottle of Lubegard red into the transmission, and the clunking, etc. gradually disappeared, and everything was fine for a little over a year. After that time, the clunking, slow acceleration, etc. began to gradually reappear, so I did another full ATF pumpout/replace, this time using a Mercon III full synthetic that had just been released, made by Eneos (I was still leery about using Mercon V, but it's been fully approved for these older Ford transmissions since then).

This reduced the returned symptoms somewhat, but not as much as I wanted, so I poured a bottle of Lubegard red into the Eneos, which helped reduce the symptoms a little more, but I still wasn't satisfied, so I tried a bottle of Lucas Transmission Fix. That stuff was so thick that it gummed up the transmission, causing it to fail to shift nearly at all until the engine had revved so high that the alternator fried its voltage regulator and then the battery. So I don't recommend Lucas Transmission Fix, though of course my experience with it has something to do with the condition of my transmission--I didn't expect miracles, but I didn't expect the fried regulator and battery. So I drained about a third of this Lucas-infected ATF and replaced it with pure Eneos Mercon III (I wanted to see how little it would take to help), and that brought the transmission back into almost acceptable range while I pondered whether to get some transmission repairs done. After driving this way for about another year, I've currently decided to temporarily just do another complete ATF pumpout/replace, this time using Mercon V, to get rid of the remaining Lucas Transmission Fix. If that doesn't help as much as I want, I'll try another bottle of Lubegard red and see what happens. But during the time between the gasket failure/leak and now, I've been studying off and on about how to do the transmission repair myself, so that's on my agenda at some point in the next year.

My research found some possible candidates for what's failed or become worn in our respective transmissions, with these being some of the more likely possibilities:
• worn clutch discs
• the transmission fluid pump's seal/gasket
• the forward clutch piston
• the Neutral to Drive Accumulator
• a stuck shift solenoid
• a number of other things in the transmission

Good luck!

[fct]

I'd say change the lines and fill the transmission with cheap fluid. E.g Walmart's Supertech Mercon V. If the transmission needs a rebuild, all you lose (on top of rebuild costs) is the fifty bucks spent on fluid and hoses. I have heard stories of Taurus transmission surviving running low on fluid, so yours should have a good chance of survival.

[clydesdale]

The 1-2 shift is hard if I am on the gas. I heard back from a Ford Tranny Engineer on one of the truck sites and he believes I burnt the intermediary clutch. He does not feel a fluid change will help. It sounds terminal.

[Tom S]

Is this the same Clydesdale I think it is from PSN or PSA?

[Lgbpop]

Originally Posted by clydesdale

The 1-2 shift is hard if I am on the gas. I heard back from a Ford Tranny Engineer on one of the truck sites and he believes I burnt the intermediary clutch. He does not feel a fluid change will help. It sounds terminal.

A transmission can be fixed, it's not terminal. The question is, do you like the car enough to choose repairing it over making car payments again for four or five years?

[clydesdale]

yep, Tom I am the same Clydesdale from PSN. If I am correct, you are a mod on PSN. Do you have an OBS?

Lgbpop, I will be able to buy a slightly used car with cash. The reason I can do that is because I have kept this car for nearly 15 years and busted my knuckles and replaced struts, alt, batts, tranny lines, radiator pipes, welded in a new rocker, fiberglassed a rust pocket near the gas tank filler, multiple sets of brakes and a few rear calipers, a couple of tune ups, belts, a/c pulley, crankshaft pulley, 2 mufflers, etc...

The car has an exhaust leak, a bad engine mount, and bubbling rust pocket near the gas tank filler, and the worst part is that the subframe mount on the passenger side is rotted badly. This car was not going to last me 5 more years. But, I do want to squeeze a little more out of her. But, I have no interest in getting a boneyard tranny or having it rebuilt.

My wife is eyeing a 2 year old Honda CRV. She is praying this thing dies tomorrow, but I am more frugal than that.

This car is a noble beater and has been a tremendous soldier, but it appears it's war is almost over.

[Tom S]

Yes and am the mod with OBS on those sites.

[brooksbronco17]

My cousin did this to his 97 taurus. He didn't pump all his fluid out but his trans pump shaft sheared and tried running it home which was not smart. It had just enough friction to produce alittle pressure and could move alittle but couldn't complete a shift. After the fix He has had that delayed 1-2 shift when accelerating for the last 2 years-25,000 miles and it's still ticking. Just wanting to let you know It might have life left, even if it's not quite right. My 2 cents is on worn friction discs in both cases.