Hey guys, Ive been lurking here a few days and realizing what a great wealth of information this forum seems to be. I have gone through several threads looking to see if I could possibly find a solution to my issue.
I just recently picked up a 1996 Taurus GL, its got the Vulcan, and unfortunately the AX4S. I just got it on the road today and took it for a decent road test to verify if I had missed anything on my initial road test. Unfortunately it appears that I did.
I am not sure if this issue is brand new. I have very limited knowledge about what maintenance was performed on this vehicle, and what characteristics the transmission had prior to my purchase of the vehicle.
Here is the issue I am having. I noticed a number of times that when I approached a red light, or a stop sign, when coming to a stop I can feel the car shift from 2-1. When I say I can feel the shift, I mean it is harsh, it almost feels as if the motor mount is completely shot and the torque is causing the engine to move when it downshifts. Its a sudden jolt, and its quite severe when compared to the rest of the shifts. If I baby the brakes, and come to a complete stop at a very leisurely pace, this doesn't happen. However under normal to moderate braking, the transmission will do this almost every time coming to a stop. I also noticed that so far, it has only done this with the vehicle warmed up. I didn't feel this when car was still under normal operating temperature.
Here is what I do know of the vehicle, it was owned by an elderly woman, who just recently decided to give up driving. She bought the car used with 52,000 miles on it in 1999, since then she has put 25,000 miles on the vehicle. I was in shock to learn that the vehicle had only been driven so little over a 13 year period. The car currently has 77,000 miles on it. I have reason to believe that the maintenance was kept up over the 13 years she had the car to the best of my knowledge, however I do not know if a transmission service has ever been done to the car or not.
The fluid level is good, and the fluid coloration is right. The fluid does not smell burnt in any way. As a precaution, being that these transmissions are the weakest point of the vehicle, I will be getting the fluid exchanged and a filter change as soon as I can. I am not currently having any other symptoms with the vehicle relating to the transmission. My cruise control appears to be working correctly, and the speedometer seems to be working correctly too.
From some other threads on here, I have seen one person fixed this issue with a park neutral safety switch. I have seen that there have been many issues caused by a faulty VSS sensor. I also found several threads where it was deemed normal for the transmission to behave this way on these vehicles. With all this being said, what is your guys belief as to the cause of this issue? What should I be looking for if anything?
TL;DR
I have a harsh downshift from 2-1 when coming to a stop with normal to moderate braking. The issue does not seem to present itself when leisurely braking. The condition only seems to be present after the car has warmed up.
Thank you guys in advance, I apologize for the overly lengthy OP, I just didn't want to miss anything
.
I just recently picked up a 1996 Taurus GL, its got the Vulcan, and unfortunately the AX4S. I just got it on the road today and took it for a decent road test to verify if I had missed anything on my initial road test. Unfortunately it appears that I did.
I am not sure if this issue is brand new. I have very limited knowledge about what maintenance was performed on this vehicle, and what characteristics the transmission had prior to my purchase of the vehicle.
Here is the issue I am having. I noticed a number of times that when I approached a red light, or a stop sign, when coming to a stop I can feel the car shift from 2-1. When I say I can feel the shift, I mean it is harsh, it almost feels as if the motor mount is completely shot and the torque is causing the engine to move when it downshifts. Its a sudden jolt, and its quite severe when compared to the rest of the shifts. If I baby the brakes, and come to a complete stop at a very leisurely pace, this doesn't happen. However under normal to moderate braking, the transmission will do this almost every time coming to a stop. I also noticed that so far, it has only done this with the vehicle warmed up. I didn't feel this when car was still under normal operating temperature.
Here is what I do know of the vehicle, it was owned by an elderly woman, who just recently decided to give up driving. She bought the car used with 52,000 miles on it in 1999, since then she has put 25,000 miles on the vehicle. I was in shock to learn that the vehicle had only been driven so little over a 13 year period. The car currently has 77,000 miles on it. I have reason to believe that the maintenance was kept up over the 13 years she had the car to the best of my knowledge, however I do not know if a transmission service has ever been done to the car or not.
The fluid level is good, and the fluid coloration is right. The fluid does not smell burnt in any way. As a precaution, being that these transmissions are the weakest point of the vehicle, I will be getting the fluid exchanged and a filter change as soon as I can. I am not currently having any other symptoms with the vehicle relating to the transmission. My cruise control appears to be working correctly, and the speedometer seems to be working correctly too.
From some other threads on here, I have seen one person fixed this issue with a park neutral safety switch. I have seen that there have been many issues caused by a faulty VSS sensor. I also found several threads where it was deemed normal for the transmission to behave this way on these vehicles. With all this being said, what is your guys belief as to the cause of this issue? What should I be looking for if anything?
TL;DR
I have a harsh downshift from 2-1 when coming to a stop with normal to moderate braking. The issue does not seem to present itself when leisurely braking. The condition only seems to be present after the car has warmed up.
Thank you guys in advance, I apologize for the overly lengthy OP, I just didn't want to miss anything
.
