Help desperately needed on a 95 WS Tranny problem.

First let me say that i appreciate any responses as i am a little paranoid at the moment gripped by the fear of possibly needing a new tranmission. I have one vehicle and this Windstar is it, so any fast responses are very much appreciated as it is holiday weekend (thank god) i have possibly 2 days to get this fixed before work on tuesday.

Heres the skinny, On saturday it started acting weird, come to a stop sign and when you go to drive again it acted as if it was in neutral. A few seconds went by and 1st gear engaged and all was well. This happened 2 more times the way home. So first thing i did was get some tranny fluid, it was low but not too bad. I also put in some tranny goop, not sure the name but it was super thick and sposed to help things inside the tranny. After i did that i took a little 5 mile test drive and all was great again, instant relief.
And hour after that journey i left again to run errand and all was fine the first 2 stop signs, but the next 2 were bad, like i was in neutral again. I made it home and this morning my wife went to go to church and it is worse, this time she starts it and puts it in reverse and the van goes nowhere. All gears were neutral feeling, as in when you are in drive hitting the gas the van goes nowhere. even the low gears 1 and 2 did not work, i sat there a few seconds and eventually it went into gear and i just pulled back into the driveway and here i am. The haynes manual was a joke, basically outside of checking the tranny fluid if you have issues they say take it to shop for diagnosis.
So, in conclusion, the van revs in a neutral way even when in gear, the fluids are fine, the motor is fine, no check engine light.

1995 Ford Windstar v6 3.8

Thanks again for any leads on what to do. I am a home mechanic with not alot of money and i need to do this mission myself so if you can take that into consideration as you give advice id appreciate it.

The 2 CHEAP things to look into are the Transmission Range Sensor ( TRS ) which is located on top of the transmission, under the engine air filter, intake hose.
The transmission is electronically controled, and the TRS is what the gear selector connects to.....and tells the electronics what gear you have selected.
It is pretty cheap, and easy to replace...as it is not inside the transmission case.

The transmission electronics failure indicator light is the O/D light on the gear select lever. If it is flashing......the best thing to do is to pay to have the transmission codes read, aka transmission diagnostic.

The other thing to try is changine the transmission fluid.
Your '95 MUST have Mercon rated fluid (Mercon is a specification, not brand).
There is a FORD TSB that states that you MUST use Mercon rated fluid in a transmission that calls for Mercon, and NOT to use a Mercon V rated fluid OR any fluid that claims to meet both Mercon and Mercon V specification.
Within the past year, Mobil 1 has started listing both specifications on the label.

The transmission fluid in the windstar needs to be changed AT LEAST every 30K miles, 21K miles for "severe" service.

You can take the vehicle to many oil change places and have a fluid exchange done.
They use a machine to drain the old fluid out through a cooler line, and put new fluid in as the old fluid comes out.
You do not want to have any solvent cleaners used, as they will not get them all flushed out.
The total capacity of the transmission is 12.25 quarts.
If you can find a totally synthetic Mercon fluid, that will be even better.
I would stay away from any additives to the new fluid.....a good quality fluid is all you want.

Thanks for your response wiswind. Today is pay day and i am running inot more problems. I talked to NAPA and they didnt even know what i was talking about when i mentioned TRS sensor, Pep boys had an 8 pin device that sounded close, for 32.99, for a transmissionAX43, now if i have the overdrive which i do he says it is special order and 200 bucks. Well hell thats a huge difference. Can you shed light on a part number or someplace that has these TRS in stock?
Thanks in advance.

I also wanted to know, if i remove that trs sensor will the vand still drive ok? For instance i had a brake sensor go out and i removed the abs fuse and drove manual brakes for awhile. Just wondering if i can remove that to get by, it is no fun in the middle of an intersection and the damn tranny wont engage to go and you got a long line of cars yelling various profanities at you wishing i could hold a big poster board up saying "Sorry i got tranny problems" lol. Thx again.

This part is also called "neutral safety" or "Backup switch"
Go to www.partsamerica.com and select "replacement parts"
Then select your vehicle year, make, model, and engine as prompted (just a couple of mouse clicks to select from the menus).
Then, on the right hand side, scroll down, and select "switches"
Then, select "neutral Safety / Backup switch"
They will list the parts......select one that says "Buy online, pickup today"
There will be another box that opens and tells you what store in your area (under several names, like Advance and Checker) has the part.....and you can click to get a map to the store.

If you have several items in the list that have "Buy online, pickup today" you can select each one, and determine which store is closest to you.....

I see a part listed for about $44, but often, the store price is lower.....but not always.

List price for the "Neutral Safety Switch" from a FORD dealer is $75, says it fits "95 - '98 Windstar. Millennium Ford in Seattle has it for $40.55, plus shipping.

I like to check the dealer list price......so I have something to compare to......and to see if I really am saving money.
Some dealerships give discounts.....and others have a "online parts department" that sells below their counter price.
Online....you have to wait for the part to ship to you.
Also...when ordering online from a dealership.....they may ask you for your VIN, which will help them get the correct part to you....as there were some "mid year" changes.

Well i thought i would give everyone an update.
Currently the problem is still not fixed. I dont know what else to do so perhaps you can help with some fresh ideas.
The van still wont drive and go from first, it also wont go into reverse, i mean it will go into reverse but it just revs and slowly but surely eventually you will go backwards. To drive i have to shift it to low 2 and then take off and then shift to drive, then everything is fine. Why wont it shift into first?
Now also here is another thing, on occasion the o/d will flash on and off, now when this happens it is a good thing cause when it blinks now it means everything is ok and we can go to drive and take off. It can go from a dead stop in drive with out having to use low2.
After MUCH MUCH hassle i got the part i need on the advice above, there are 2 types of neutral safety switches, a 4 pin and an 8 pin, the 8 pin for the od trannys is and was difficult for me to find where i live. But i did get it.
I changed the neutral safety switch, everything lined up and was assembled correctly. I got in the van expecting the problem to be solved and when i put it in reverse i was sadly let down as all it did was rev in a neutral fashion.
Since then i have dropped the tranny pan and changed filter, i was highly upset to see a cork type gasket on the tranny, i expected a reusable rubber one so i used the cork one i got from the atx filter kit i bought but it does have some slight leakage. Is the rubber one recommended?
What can i do now?
I dont know why but since i put that new switch on the o/d light doesnt flash no more so currently we are always forced to start in low 2. With that being said i dont believe there is a tranny problem mechaniccly. I mean when this od light was blinking and we were able to take off from a stop in drive that tells me the tranny is fine i have something else going on but what? The weather is getting cold and i would like to solve this problem soon but i am getting defeated. I need some new ideas to keep up the fight.
I know autozone does odb reads for engine codes, do they do that with transmissions?
Any help would be aprreciated and Wiswind id like to thank you personally cause your pictures you share are top notch and have helped me learn alot about ther windstar..

I would say that the best thing to do at this point would be to get a diagnostic from a trusted shop.
The flashing O/D light is like a "Check Engine Light" for the transmission.
This is a good thing, as the electronics are seeing a problem.
The thing that you need is the codes for the problems that the electronics see, and then to determine if the problem seen is the cause or something caused by a problem that is not indicated in the codes.
Some codes are very easy.
I do not think that the tranny codes will come up with the generic OBDII scan that you get a AutoZone.
It is worth a try, as they are free.

When you get the diagnostic at a shop, if the AutoZone check does not get anything, have them give you the actual code......
You could have a problem with the wire harness, so a look to see if there is any point that it is rubbing might be helpful.
It is hard to find and follow the wire harnesses, but there have been a couple of TSB's about various wire harness rub issues for other things.

Another thing that seems to come up in here on posts is the speed sensor that is located about mid point on the top'ish back of the transmission case.
Hard to get at.
But....again, before changing that, I would go for the diagnostic.
You will need to find an honest shop that you can trust, so that they don't take you to the cleaners.

Here is another update.

I did go and get the tranny codes read and they came back p0733 or something about 3rd gear.

Basically we are driving it till it dies. It has 220,000 original mile on it and it just isnt worth the 15 to 1800 we were quoted for a new tranny, with this high mileage. So the next step is to fix my other car and either let this one die or sell it for parts, still runs great.

Im still of the belief that it is electronic issue is the main culprit cause when the o/d light blinks on and off we can drive the van just fine. If it doesnt blink then to get started we need to shift to low 2 to go. No matter what is happening we have no reverse regardless of the light blinking or not.
Very strange issues over here but i guess at 220,000 and everything original you would expect collapse eventually.