Transmission thumping sound in forward gears

[tripletdaddy]

I have a 95 Ford Taurus SW with 3.8L, 90k mile, and AXOD/AX4S Trans., that has developed, I believe over time, a continuous dull, thumping sound when putting it into any of the forward gears from park or neutral at idle. I don't think the sound is perceptible in R, and definitely not at all in N and P. The sound will go away with a minimal increase in rpm. I seem to recall that it didn't matter if you had your foot on the brake or not. There may also be, with a little imagination, an additional sound from the trans that it previously didn't have that is your typical dull "it's getting noisy," mechanical wear like sound that "you'd rather not hear" when "you didn't think it was there before." Yes, a trans flush and fluid and filter change are overdue, but I am concerned there may be more to this and "the writing is on the wall" already.

I have poured over what meager results I got from my fruitless searches of the Taurus forum only to my frustration and exhaustion. I also searched the Windstar forum, as it uses the same exact or nearly the same trans. as I have found on my 95 Winnie. With that thought, are there any other models that use the same trans or similar enough ones for me to do additional forum searches for possible clues to my problem and its solution? I really don't want to be the pioneer of this on the forum with only to share a sad and scary tale of no success and endless bloodshed, tears, wasted time and money thrown away, as most of us here have neither to spare, but I will if I have to....if I can just get past the bloodshed and tears.

Thanks to one and all.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by tripletdaddy

with only to share a sad and scary tale of no success and endless bloodshed, tears, wasted time and money thrown away,

Oh no?
That's what messing around with older cars is all about

Take a good look at the flexplate and the bolts that hold it to the converter.
A cracked flexplate and/or loose/missing bolts will produce such sounds.

And while we're at it, a bad harmonic balancer sometimes does the same thing.

[tripletdaddy]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

Oh no?
That's what messing around with older cars is all about

Take a good look at the flexplate and the bolts that hold it to the converter.
A cracked flexplate and/or loose/missing bolts will produce such sounds.

And while we're at it, a bad harmonic balancer sometimes does the same thing.

See what I mean? You have nothing to share with me but bloodshed, tears and wasted time and money!?! I'm in that particular frame of mind right now, because I have a backlog of inoperative vehicles, 4 that are legal, so I have none to or should drive now, and three more that aren't registered, etc., that I hope to get running again. So, my repair success rate curve has been going in the wrong direction too much lately. Granted, this 95 Taurus is my youngest vehicle, so I actually don't consider it all that old, and it has the least amount of mileage on it too. Please don't remind me too much about the heartache, tears and frustration over working with older cars as it fuels that fire and demons in my head from my f in law who likes to harp on our older cars. It gets really, really old.

To clarify, is the flex plate between the engine block and the trans bell? And, look for flaws and looseness with the harmonic balancer? Ok, I'll have to put that in line behind the head or head gasket leak it has.........

BTW, is your avatar your pic as your name doesn't give it justice ( I would guess not)?

Thanks for your input!

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by tripletdaddy

See what I mean? You have nothing to share with me but bloodshed, tears and wasted time and money!?! I'm in that particular frame of mind right now, because I have a backlog of inoperative vehicles, 4 that are legal, so I have none to or should drive now, and three more that aren't registered, etc., that I hope to get running again. So, my repair success rate curve has been going in the wrong direction too much lately. Granted, this 95 Taurus is my youngest vehicle, so I actually don't consider it all that old, and it has the least amount of mileage on it too. Please don't remind me too much about the heartache, tears and frustration over working with older cars as it fuels that fire and demons in my head from my f in law who likes to harp on our older cars. It gets really, really old.

To clarify, is the flex plate between the engine block and the trans bell? And, look for flaws and looseness with the harmonic balancer? Ok, I'll have to put that in line behind the head or head gasket leak it has.........

BTW, is your avatar your pic as your name doesn't give it justice ( I would guess not)?

Thanks for your input!

Well, it's the mark of a true enthusiast to have lots of unfinished projects.

I have 4 vehicles that are working, but all need a bit of work to be nice .... 4 more cars and 2 bikes that need lots of work to make run.... and my beloved classic Lincoln that has turned into a split - level mouse condo because it is stored in a friends barn!

And I had a father-in-law who often said" SELL ALL YOUR JUNK AND BUY ONE GOOD CAR!!...... On at least one occasion, all of my cars broke at the same time, so I had to borrow his to run around and get parts... how embarrassing.

Finally, I, consider any vehicle that was made in the 1990's to be 'not old'. Imo vehicles have to be 35+ years to be 'old'.

The flexplate is like a flywheel, in cars with automatic transmissions. It looks like a big disc with teeth around the outside, so the starter motor can spin it. It is found between the rear of the crankshaft and the front of the torque converter, inside the bellhousing.

Is my avatar me? No, and it's not even my g/f. It's just nice to look at, imo.