Tranny problem

2003 Windstar. Had the tranny rebuilt and appeared to run well about 6 months ago. Now when you drive about a quarter mile the vehicle just stops in drive. The engine continues to run and the tranny starts a whining noise.I have to get towed back. Once the vehicle sits for a while it will drive just fine for another quarter mile and do the same.The guy that rebuilt it refuses to do anything else with it.He warranty it for a year on a verbal agreement and not standing by his work....Any ideas as to what may be going on. I was thinking maybe a pressure problem...........

first off.. how is the fluid level? what's the colour and smell of the fluid? has the van been used to tow boats/trailers etc? any DTCs?

Sorry you've had problems. My tranny failed @ 90k miles ... had it rebuilt by Ford dealership for $1700. It went OK for over 100k miles ... then wear-out troubles began again. I put too much money in fixing small things and limping along. Finally, @ 215k miles, I bit the bullet and replaced with a Ford rebuilt. Big success so far ... the tranny replacement costs approx $1900 ... complete with fluid fill, and all new sensors ... vehicle is now at 330k miles ....120k+ miles on tranny replacement ....and going strong. (I did the labor.)

Thanks for the reply. Fluids are good and never been used for towing, just hauling kids. Not sure what this guy who says he rebuilt it did exactly. But charge 1200.00 and only got a few months out of it. It's strange, after it sits it will go and the tranny will stall after a 1/4 mile. Let it sit and it will go again and repeat the problem..Any ideas are appreciated...

I think if I were you I'd be going to a reputable shop and finding out what's wrong. If you have the warranty from the first place and he won't honour it then you messing around with it might just give him an "out". You need to find out what's wrong and this might escalate to legal proceedings. I hate stating this but if you've only got a few months out of the repair, regardless of whether the agreement was verbal or not, he should be honouring it.

Are you sure he did the rebuilt at his shop? If he got it rebuilt somewhere else they might have a warranty on their rebuilds, then its just a matter of dealing with the labour. The guy might not want to honour it because of the amount of time/labour involved in changing the tranny. But i agree with Piper, i would take it to a reputable shop to determine what the problem is.

-J

There are many different things that can fail in the tranmsission and cause a total loss of drive. You don't mention if the transmission works in any gear (R,O/D,D,2,1) so I suspect that you can't move in any direction. The whinning noise could be from the main pump. If the oil is foaming under drive, then the air in the oil can cause the pump to whine. Air prevents the pump from making the hydralic oil pressure needed to operate the transmission. Letting it sit may allow the air to separate out of the oil.

There are other causes of foaming oil, so it may be something else. In addition, there are other reasons to loose all the gears. The transmission is a fairly complex system, and good diagnosis requires strong knowledge of their operation.