98 taurus tranny shifting problems

hello I am a new member to this forum and read the last 18 pages of threads pertaning to the taurus whick included several tranny problems, anyway from what I have read the taurus has a bad tranny from the factory and my question is what does it do when it goes out? slip shift hard? one guy posted that when his did not shift right that his spedometer was all over the place which is also the same as mine, he stated that he ended up needing a speed sensor because the computer could not tell how fast the car was going in order to shift the tranny correctly, it does not do it all the time just once in a while, it has just been doing it the last couple days and it only does it when the speedometer is not working, the tranny does not slip but will not shift out of second until you reach roughly 30 miles per hour, the car has 130000 miles on it, any advice is greatly appreciated thanks in advance

sounds like it could be a speed sensor problem any check engine light?

yes sir I am getting a check engine light and I am gonna get the codes first thing in the morning, we drove it up this huge hill we have here it is about 4 miles long stopping several times on the hill and starting and no slipping or anything while the speedometer was working once the speedo stopped working then the tranny would not shift out of first gear and when we got to the bottom the backshift was really hard, my old lady called her brother who works at ford and he said it sounds like you smoked your tranny and she said it only doe it when the speedo is not working and the fluid is nice and red and is not burnt he said it could be a couple of things but would not tell her what he thought it could be other than if the tranny was shot it would do it all the time

I am a former ford foreman and and fairly sure it is the sensor or wiring to the sensor.Good luck also note it is normal to have multiple trans codes however if there is a speed sensor code ie p0500 repair that first it will cause other codes to set

thanks for the info lilvinny, can I ask you is there two vss on the 98 taurus se? I read a post that stated there was a mechanical one and an electronic one but it did not state what year I think they were talking about an 97, I turned the front tire all the way to the right and looked in the back of the wheel well on the drivers side and just above the drive axle on the tranny there was a big black piece of plastic with a 8 or 10 mm bolt holding it in the hole with two wires coming out of it, thats the vss right? thanks so much for your help lilvinny

the sensor in question is the one on the passenger side on top of the trans under the exhaust manifold with the 10mm bolt the trans does have others however nothing you need to know.when you take out that speed sensor pay close attn to the connector and harness for any signs of melting.

well lilvinny I went to checker today and had them run the codes and it came back with po500 and there was a couple of pending codes pertaining to selinoid a,b,c and the lock up but he thought they were from the vss not working so we went to ford and told the service guy i wanted a vss and he said the speed sensor is on each individual wheel so i argued with him for 5 minutes then I went ot talk to the parts guy and he had a vss for 28 dollars so I bought that and now I am gonna try putting it in, wish me luck fellas, thanks so much for your help lilvinny I could not have done it with out you, I'll let you guys know how it turns out

ok fellas I got the vss in reconnected the battery and took it for a 100 mile ride everything was awesome, works great no problems what so ever thank you so much lilvinny your the best could not have done it with out you,

I read a few threads on here about guys getting the aluminum piston replaced with the steel one to fix the problem, is that something I can do now while my tranny is working good before it goes bad? he stated in his thread all he did was take out the valve body and had a tranny shop do the work for a couple hundred, maybe I could prevent it from going to hell if I do something about it now before it takes a dump? thanks for the info fellas

Way to go! I don't know which piston you are talking about but if it involves taking out the valve body and still spending 200 sounds like foward clutch apply piston.might as well be rebuilding at that point. If it ain't broke........................... Just keep that fluid clean.. Glad to help