Sable Issue

I have a 1991 Mercury Sable and I just started experiecing a very weird issue. Though not very car savy myself, my friend said he'd assist with anything that needed to be done. Here's my problem: Basically when I start the car I can go in either reverse or forward but only once. Let's say I back out of my drive way I then can not get it to go forward after putting it into gear. I press down on the gas and it does absolutely nothing. My friend said he felt it is the filter within the tranny so we replaced that today. Well, to my surprise that temporarily fixed it (or did it?) anyways... parked it, left it for a few hours after driving it a little bit and sure enough it did the EXACT same thing it was doing prior to the filter change. I added the appropriate amount of transmission fluids so I just do not understand the problem.

I am wondering if I am just missing something. He now thinks it has to do with one of the bands slipping, though I am not exactly sure what that means. Have any of you had any problems with a sable having these issues?

Thanks for your time.

Jacob

The transmission gears might not be aligning properly when you try to put in a specific gears. Don't just look at the Drive selector but feel when you try to put it in a certain gear. Over time the selector gear you see when you try to put the transmission in a specific gear might not exactly align itself. So just try to feel when trying to put it in gear.

Hi, Lamerhood, RE, Your 91 sable trans no fwd/rev....Ford TSB 94-24-7, covers your symptom perfectly, It requires replacement of the forward clutch piston wich is made of aluminum and develops a hair line crack/fracture around the sealing ring groove, The reason for no fwd/rev, is that the forward clutch piston must hold it's pressure to let the rest of the clutch packs operate in other words no fwd,rev,intermediate,or direct clutch operation, The replacement piston is made of steel and solves the problem, unfortunately this is an overhaul proceedure, no other way around it.....This problem is inherent in 1986 thru 1995, Ford tarus, Merc sable and lincoln continental.....one of ford's better ideas...See Ya, Clay......