2000 Transmission

I have a 2000 taurus with about 77,000 miles on it. This transmission is really making me upset. Every morning when i go to leave for work, I pop it into R and it slams into gear with a thump. Then when I put it in N its thumps out of gear and same thing when in D. Also when driving after car is warmed up and stoping and poping it into R, it is a delay or something. I mash the gas and it won't go anywhere for about 5 seconds. Also while going into over drive the car locks the egine into low RPM so the car is bucking or feels like driving with the brake on.

Can someone tell me what some of my problems are?

Also would it be possible to throw a Chrysler 41TE transmission into this car? I just can't deal with this transmission being so jerky and and bore to drive.

Did you replace the trans fluid every 30k miles? Your problems sound like restricted flow in the passages. I'm not sure what the specific solution would be, since I'm fanatic about maintenance as a preventive measure, I've never experienced tranny problems so far even though I went 150000+ miles on some of my cars w/ auto transmission.

fargus, you're not showing much car knowledge to ask if a Chrysler transmission can be "thrown" in your Taurus. Banjoman is right, sounds like your transmission is due for some P.M. and TLC.

fargus, you're not showing much car knowledge to ask if a Chrysler transmission can be "thrown" in your Taurus. Banjoman is right, sounds like your transmission is due for some P.M. and TLC.

LOL I was being funny with the chrysler trans. I just wish the ford transmission was a bit more electronically controlled. Turns out my taurus has the AX4S transmission, on the door its says TR = L. I have a question about the transmission. Where should I take it to get the trans service and what service should i get? Full flush or just change fuild?


Actually I am use to driving car's with solenoid shifting like the chrysler vehicles have and some foreign cars.


Can anyone give me a little more info on the AX4S trans and what the difference is between it in the AX4N.

Just a thought. The transmission on my old ford probe had a very similar problem. The lock up on the converter had, well, locked-up permanatly. It was very hard shifting into R, D and also shifting out of first. I only drove it like this for one day ( to take it to the dealer) and it needed a new tranny which the dealer paid for ( I bought it used 2 weeks prior). You problem sounds really similar.

Just FYI, there is a possibility (since we can't drive your car ourselves) that you may just be experiencing normal operation. My car makes a bit of a thump going into reverse too, and I suspect they all do. I just had my 2002's transmission serviced at 35K, and it sounds like the same thing.

You mentioned that it happens when you start your car in the morning. Know that if you put the car in gear within a few seconds of starting the car, the your engine RPM will be higher as the computer tries to warm up the engine by running it faster after a cold start. Naturally, the faster the engine is spinning when you shift into reverse, the louder/harder the thump is going to be. For example, if you shifted from P to R while you held the accelerator down to put the engine at 2000RPM (DON'T), you would find the noise and feel of the shift very unpleasant.

But, trust me, I'm not disregarding you. You may have a legitimate problem. But next time you start your car, you might try letting it idle for 1-2 mins and letting the RPM drop down to 700 or 900 instead of 1100-1400, and see if the thump lessens. It will still be present, but hopefully less so.

BTW, it does sound like your other tranny issues are real. I don't mean to say they're not, but I just wanted to offer some (hopefully helpful) advice. The thump into R and N at high RPM may be normal, but I didn't mean to imply that the other stuff is normal operation. Sorry about that.

Good luck!

If I were you, I would check the tranny fluid after a short drive. You want to look for tiny shavings and/or black burnt smelling tranny fluid. If so, the tranny is toast. Best thing to do is a fluid / filter change reguardless. Sorry man, I don't care what anyone says, the trannys they put in these tauruses suck. Worse than my A4LD in my 1988 Ranger, and those are supposed to be awful.

Pete

I have an '01 Taurus SES and just flushed the transmission today, it was a lot like what you are describing, only not quite as bad. The fluid change helped, but the trans is anything but smooth, no matter how long i let it idle before driving, it is just the way these crappy transmissions are.