93 escort 1.9L trans issues..

recently acquired 93 escort, 90,000 mi. runs great, guy i got it from said he got with a bad trans, dont know what was bad. he put a different trans in and said the person he got the used 1 from swears it was good...now the funny stuff. fluid full and looks good, assuming was changed with the swap, hits reverse fine, 1st, 2nd. if u leave selector in D it will not engage at all past 2nd, just revs after 2nd. however if u put it in over-drive it will shift into drive just fine, and not into over-drive.., stays in drive (3rd) doesnt seem to be slipping, i gave it a good flogging on the way home, fluid still looks new and smells good..?? computer issues? electronic solenoid problems? havent used the handheld scanner yet, check engine light must be burned out or not there as does not come on with key on engine off. looking for ideas before i pull it out, thanks btw i have been scouring your forums for some time with various vehicles and appreciate the intelligent answers, finially decided to become a member

Have no idea just what your problem is, sound like stuck valves, or maybe a bad vacuum mod.

Flogging it on the way home really helped the tranny that giving problems a lot tho.

A 93 Escort wouldnt have a vacuum mod., it has a cable from the throttle over to the transmission to let the tranny know how much pressure to use when shifting. You could check that the cable is connected up - at both ends. You would see it on the throttle disc at the throttle body. You can unhook it from there, and it should feel like it is being pulled by a spring. If its not hooked up the tranny wont shift as it should -- though I dont know that it would show the symptoms you describe. In your position I might try checking the shifter on the tranmission (you will have to remove the air filter housing to see it) and making sure it is still moving when the shift lever on the console moves. There are bushings that can go bad and allow the shift rod on the top front of the transmission not to be turning as it is supposed to.

Hearing 2nd/3rd hand that a used tranny was good isnt too reassuring. Did the guy you bought it from sell it because the tranny was doing strange things? I wonder if the torque converter was also used, and how many miles it had on it? If there are stuck shifting solenoids inside the tranny (they are actually solenoid-valves, and there are 4 of them), it makes you wonder why they are stuck - what has mucked up the tiny strainers on the inlet of the valve.

When you say it just revs past 2nd - do you mean the engine will rev up and the car's speed wont change at all? Normally it would shift from 1st to 2nd (at perhaps 5-10 mph), then into 3rd,(at about 20-25 mph, if the shift lever was in D. With the lever in Over-Drive it would shift from 1st to 2nd to 3rd, and into 4th at anything from 35 mph or higher, depending on how much gas you give it. And a second or less after going into 4th, it would go into torque converter lockup - which you might feel as a slight 'lurch'. Im just wondering if you might be missing the feel of the 1-2 shift or the 2-3 shift. I have 2 Escorts with the automatic tranny, and the shifts on one of them are very obvious, even snappy. On the other one the shifts are silky smooth. I dont know why that is; the transmissions are identical & I rebuilt both of them myself, using the same type of rebuild kits.


Is this an LX Escort with the 1.9L or a GT with the 1.8L. They both use the same auto transmission, an F4EAT; a Mazda design NOT famous for working to high mileages. (but easy to rebuild).

Yes its a lx escort, 1.9L with the F4EAT trans, ..looked like all the linkages were moving correctly, kick down cable does have a bit of spring to it so i assuming its hooked up. i know the hear-say bout it "was workin just fine" so i dont believe that either, guy i got it from was just done with fuckn with it, he put that trans in and it never worked right and he gave up...
the shifting is wierd tho, the motor is revn good at 65ish, way too high to be in top gear, that with shifter in OD. so im guessn its in 3rd, but if u move the selector to D the motor just revs like u were in a 5 speed and pushed in the clutch.. put back in OD and it will go back into that gear. if u let off the gas some, it feels like its tryn to find the next gear but cant shift into it and then u have nothing till the car slows some, wth motor not much above idle it will drop back into 3rd. but it will Not do that if the selector is in D. goofy as hell. Ive rebuilt a few A4LD's, probe trannys, couple of C4's so im not worried bout the rebuild just was hopen for a simple non remove answer for once. thanks

been 2 weeks since i was putzn with it so gota jog the memory a bit, curious if one of the pulse generators combined with a computer error could be causing this, i never heard what was wrong in the first place to prompt changin the trans the first time. may have had similliar issues idk.

I would not assume that the filter has been changed when they made the swap. I would also not assume that the transmission oil pressure has been adjusted properly.

Also, exactly how did you check the fluid level? Most people do it wrong.

Does the cruise control work just fine? If it does than the VSS is probably good.
I'd check the TPS with a multimeter (set on ohms).