2001 P71 Transmission question...

I have recently purchased an 01 P71 with about 161k miles... It was a take home Constable car in Texas.. My friend (an pilot car driver) and I went down to TX from AR and drove it back, NO PROBLEMS!

We took out all of the extra stuff in it and installed all of his EQ that was needed for his business. We unhooked the battery cables so that we could safely install all of the stuff, and ran the power wires for the EQ directly to the battery with an inline fuse and switch...

We reconnected the cables and the car drove fine. The next day we had to go on a short trip to a neighboring town and the car was shifting painfully slow.. slow 1-2 slow 3-4. We contacted a friend of ours that told us that the Panter Platform cars were adaptive to driving style, so after we did a powercycle (unhooked the battery) it reset everything.. So, with his advice we then unhooked the battery AGAIN, and let it sit overnight.

We got up this morning to take the car to a local exhaust shop and get the exhaust system and the emissions codes taken care of, the car ran fine. About an hour later, we finished our business and drove home. The car was having issues shifting again. We contacted Ford and were told that "it sounds like something is coming apart in the tranny", we went to the local transmission shop and were told basically the same thing. (went there to have the tranny fluid and filter changed thinking that was the issue... the mechanic said "it may or may not help, I dont want you to spend $100 on svc the transmission only to figure out that the transmission is shot")

Can anyone shine alittle light on the subject? Im used to dealing with the old "bubble" 9C1s...

Thanks

What color is the fluid? Can you do a video of how slow the shifts are? Compared to other cars, the panthers do shift quite slow. There is a way to fix it called a J-Mod (which I just did last week) and love the new shifts, but that should not be done on a limping transmission.

Check the fluid color and level first of all. It may simply need a fluid change. Otherwise it might be more serious such as worn clutches.

I have an iPhone, so no way to do videos... The fluid is alittle on the dingy side but with no "burnt" smell...Fluid level is full, also... If it was burnt clutches, would removing the battery cables and putting them back on solve the problem? When we unhooked the battery and hooked it back up and went for a ride, it drove fine... We parked it, shut it down, restarted it and went for another drive and it was acting up again.

Hope that helps.. :frown:

Like you mentioned before these transmissions are "adaptive" to a degree. The PCM measures the amount of slip in the clutches and compensates accordingly as it learns how well the fluid is working with the clutches. So when you disconnect the battery, the PCM defaults to a pre-set condition where it may be using a higher line pressure but then reverts to it's "learned" line pressure which the ATF may not be able to handle. Also, some places tend to use "universal" Dexron III/Mercon V ATF. These are NOT recommended for use. I've seen some shops use just Dexron III and add a tube of friction modifier. Again, this is unacceptable and will not produce the same results as a properly formulated Mercon V-specific ATF.

When you check the ATF level it must be at normal temperature and you must have cycled through the gears. The other day when I was making sure I put enough back in, I had to drive it for about 20 minutes before the ATF even reached 100F (was 17F outside). Normal temperature is around 150-170F. When I got back, I cycled through D, R, and N a few times, put it in Park and checked the level which should be in the hash-marked area.

If I were you and wanted to test the ATF theory but didn't want to spend too much money, I would remove the ATF cooler hoses and place them in a large container of some sort, start the car until the flow from the hose starts to sputter, then shut off the car. This will get several quarts of ATF out and then you can refill with fresh fluid like normal through the dipstick tube. Remember to hook up the tranny cooler hoses back up properly (one should be labeled TOP but if not, mark it somehow).

This will only get out about 1/3 of the fluid, but still a good start. If it does improve, then go ahead and do a full drain and fill. It's quite easy to do at home if you have ramps or jack stands.