Transmission Chuggles at Interstate Speed an bangs into 2nd gear

I have an 02 Windstar with 59k miles. The transmission seems to have multiple problems. No service has been preformed on it.

1. At highway speeds, all of a sudden the van feels like I just ran over rumble strips. At first it was subtle and lasted for a split second, just long enough to think "what the heck was that?" Now it will do it for 2-4 seconds and everything shakes violently in the car. I have xm radio and there is some car guy that gets on there every now and then for a commercial One week he was talking about this exact problem said the trans. is shifting between overdrive and the next highest gear rapidly which gives rumble strip feeling.

2. The trans seems to hesitate shifting into 2nd gear, sometimes resulting in a hard bang.

3. One time, while in the drive through at Mc Donalds, and starting and stopping 1 car length at a time, the trans banged hard at the slightest tap on the gas.

4. My van was parked outside my house and I had to move it up 1 car length to weed eat a portion of my curb. I started it up, moved it, and then shut it off. When I was done weed eating, I moved the van back and saw a huge puddle of trans fluid on the ground. I open the hood and fluid was on the top of the engine block too. I guess it shot out of the dip stick tube. It only did that once. I immediately drove the van around to get the trans hot and checked the fluid level and of course it was low. I have had to add about 1 and 1/8 quart of Mercon 5 over the course of 2 months.

5. When I took it into the shop, I had to remove luggage, car seats, cooler, 3 kids, wife, and all kinds of other crap. And as you would expect, the problems went away and preformed flawlessly when the mechanic took it for a test drive. Would the payload affect the shifting?

Any Ideas?

Thanks

Dan The Mad Hatter

welcome danthemadhatter,

The rumble strip at highway speed thing you mention I've experienced. But only ocassionally, over the lifetime of my 95, 3.8 now with 167K miles on it. I expected it to worsen, but it never did. My suspicion was ABS, as that was a brand new feature back then. I wonder if anyone out there has found the cause to this phenomenon?

Karl

I going to shoot this one out there if the sensor checks ok and fluid is in good clean shape... Check the motor mounts... just a guess..

Isn't your 02 still under warranty?

If not, ensure that the fluid is to the top of the range.

I wouls be most worried about the fluid gushing out the one time. Seems strange.

The 'rumble-strip' feeling is typically torque converter shudder. On the AX4N trans, this is usually caused by REALLY worn ATF (dirty, thinned-out), or the wrong ATF. Use only Mercon V in this trans. 59K miles is WAAAY too long to go on ATF in this trans. Hopefully an ATF & filter change will solve this.
G/luck
Joel

I agree. Trans fluid/filter change, and filled 1/4" just past the tip top of the dipstick should settle things down. Every pint of Mercon III I dribbled down the filler tube made things run better.

Karl

Okay, I hate to be repetitive here, but I may have a similar drivetrain "thumping" problem with my 1997 WS 3.8L with 70k miles, in otherwise very nice condition. (I just bought this WS cheap from my wife's dying uncle, so I'm not bitching at all... plus I can't even complain to my uncle!) The thumping isn't really all THAT bad, but when Momma gets worried, we all have to worry! LOL

Anyway, at cruising speed above 40 mph on smooth pavement, the drivetrain occasionally "thumps" enough for passengers to feel it. Sort of like hitting a small bump in the road. Sometimes there's a series of 2 or 3 thumps in a row that could be described as a rumble strip. During this thumping the engine continues running beautifully and the suspension rock-solid.

My first instinct was that the overdrive gear might be shifting in & out, but there's no sudden RPM jump. However, after watching the tach very closely, there seems to be a subtle RPM needle movement linked to the thumping.

The thumping presents itself intermittently, maybe every few miles or so, but seems more likely on slight uphill grades. If this is actually the torque converter thumping, then this would explain the slight shift in RPMs.

The first thing I checked was the ATF level and it's dead-nuts middle of the range. I don't know when (or even if) the fluid was changed, but there are no leaks. I guess these Windstars trannies need frequent ATF changes, right?

Thanks for you feedback!

Let me play my "broken record" ( you younger folks won't know what that means I guess).:::

Drivetrain harness damage against a/c tubing on firewall (models '99+)

Here's an update on my transmission issue... I found this thread on another site:

VSS Fault
If the Speedometer is erratic and the automatic gearbox is behaving strangely then suspect the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS). If this is faulty or its connection is poor then it will have a marked effect on gearbox operation, and OBD will report DTCs for this device. Check the connection to the VSS (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/manual/electrical/intbasic/VSS.pdf) and replace as necessary.

Since my speedo is erratic, this could very well explain the TCC cycling on & off. The VSS appears fairly easy to reach. I'll check pricing and if it's cheap I'll just replace it anyway. (The wiggling speedo is driving me nuts anyway.)

Thanks!

Wow, someone brought this post back from the dead! (OP over a year old). The owner of that 2002 is prolly driving something different by now! I bet his AX4N was toast due to no ATF change in ~60Kmi.

Joel

Drivetrain harness damage against a/c tubing on firewall (models '99+)


Could you please tell me specifically where I can locate this "Drivetrain harness/AC tubing"?

Thanks,
SMF

The drivetrain harness is the one that plugs into the PCM (under hood close to RH hood hinge. The ac tubing is inches away. Best to remove cowling to inspect.