1995 Escort GT transmission trouble

[lightseeker]

Hello there!
Here is the story.

I bought a Ford Escort GT 1995 (1.8 engine) with 110K miles some time ago knowing that the transmission was busted, brought it home and had the transmission repaired, the mechanic took the tranny apart and asked me to bring him some parts, including a re-manufactured converter.
After about 50 miles the speedometer stopped working so I replaced the speed sensor, it didn’t quite worked and very soon the car stopped moving at all, the engine is fine but the gears would not engage.
I went back looking for the mechanic only to find out that the guy was gone!
Well, I removed the transmission pan only to find a bunch of small metal cylinders (about 1/16” long) that look like parts of a bearing.
Never losing hope, I replaced the filter and the fluid and now the car does move but only as long as I’m accelerating making a winning noise, and it takes a lot of fidgeting to get the gears to engage.
Question: Is there still hope for the transmission?, any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Davescort97]

Welcome to AF!

I don't think there is any hope for your current transmission. Like you say, the needle bearings have fallen out. It' s too bad you can't find the guy that worked on it. At least if you had, you could have found out what he did to it. I'm not sure if a transmission off of a second generation Escort will fit on your GT. The man at the boneyard or a good parts man should be able to fill you in on that. I'd scrap the tranny you now have and get a used one from the salvage. Don't put any more good money into that bad transmission.