Hey guys nice site! As you can see by my sig, I am a Ford guy - this question is regarding his car.

He gave me a shout today, saying he felt like his car was hunting for the right gear after he hit 4th gear. After we talked about it a while (and I mentioned some problems that are common on Ford trannies) we came to the conclusion that what he was experiencing was not hunting, but rather shudder. Either from the clutches, of (more likely IMHO) from torque converter lockup after the car shifts into OD.

Is this a common problem on these cars (it is on Fords)? He says his fluid is pretty old (about 40k mi) but it looks and smells normal. I recommended a fluid change just to get the friction additives freshened up, but are there other common maintenance fixes?

Is there a drain plug on the torque converters on these cars? What is the best way to get the pan down without taking a bath in ATF? Any recommendations on good synthetic ATF at a good price?

Thanks - The Texas-Tbird

PS - I'd like to invite any of you guys who would care to surf over to my tech BBS. It is mainly dedicated to modular motor powered Ford cars, but there are general tech areas as well.
MTC Forums

Long Story. I have a 98 Pace car. My trouble started at 8000 miles, slight hesitation. By 50,000 miles anytime I was at part throttle and hit the gas tranny was vibrating and slipping. Dealer replaced tranny at 53,000 miles under Warranty Gold. Dealer said computer was showing codes consistent with slippage, and they found metal in the fluid. Car now has 70,000 mls and we're starting all over again, slight hesitation.

Gary

Regarding automatic transmissions in general, the more frequently you change (at least some of) your fluid, the longer the transmission will last. When it slip-shifts or slam-shifts, that's the little valves and other sliding devices that are sticking then moving. Changing the fluid will do a lot to clean that up. Changine it frequently will prevent it from happening.

I use a vacuum bottle to suck about 6 quarts of fluid out via the dipstick tube. I do this once a year, in the fall, after the summer heat is over and the worst transmission conditions are over (heat).

I now put about 12,000 miles a year on my car (retired) which means I'm changing half the fluid every 12K miles. The fluid I take out doesn't look anything like some of the descriptions I've been reading on this list. Even though the fluid I take out doesn't look any different from the new fluid I then put in, and I've not been experiencing any problems, the transmission always operates just a litttle bit smoother following each fluid change.

Old fluid varnish-coats highly toleranced parts and loses it's lubricating properties. New fluid cleans away those varnish coatings, and provides renewed lubrication.

This whole job takes me about 5 minutes, and I don't even get my hands dirty. Transmission fluid is real cheap when compaired to transmission repairs. When the fluids weren't as good as they are today (25 years ago), I usta do one of these fluid changes EVERY time I changed my oil (every 5K miles). I've never required any automatic transmission repairs (225K was the longest I ever kept a car).

Regards, Gary in Sandy Eggo