transmission whoas!

[flynfol]

I have a '96 windstar with 100,000 miles. (I know....amazing) It starts fine, but when you put it in gear, it immediately stalls. Kinda like the converter is locked up. Yet, if I quickly select 1(low) it will drive normally, no slippage and then manually shift into 2 and 3rd, it still seems to work. but must be put back into 1st or neutral at a stop or the engine lugs and quits like the converter is locked up. It also quits in reverse unless the car is rolling backwards when put into reverse. I know this is an electronic tranny, and I have a code reader(cheap one) but no codes appear(no check engine light) Help........any ideas? thanks

[flynfol]

found the problem...........small aluminum chip holding clutch bypass spool valve plunger open. located in valve body. now i wonder how long tranny will last...........

[rodeo02]

Good find! How'd it look in the pan? A tranny shop or dealer would have just changed out the tranny & charged you big bucks. Very few places are willing to look into them or troubleshoot them for you anymore. It's always nice to hear when someone finds the problem. G/luck with it!
Joel

[flynfol]

Pan looked good. Typical metal on magnet for 100k.I suspect the aluminum(non-ferrous) tiny chip was from the valve body itself. There are 2 small spring loaded relief valves in the valve body. They appeared to have wobbled around from fluid flow over the past 100k miles, and ended up becoming triangle shaped. (originally the relief valve face was round)That wobble also eroded the valve body where they are positioned. I would guess the only way to prevent that would be to design some sort of eddy flow bumps in the casting to prevent the wobble..........like that might happen!

[Seizer]

I am curious flynfol, how did you notice that? Just kind of stuck out when you dropped the pan? Or did you dig deeper into the transmission? I just want to know for personal knowledge, on what and where to look for problems.

[flynfol]

website called alldata.com. I have a fairly good maintenance background in aviation. Aircraft parts are extremely expensive, and it is far cheaper to troubleshoot than to "throw parts at it until it is fixed" the above website actually provides hydraulic schematics for the windstar tranny, and I studied them. The problem I was having pointed to a control problem, not an mechanical problem. The only spool valve which could have caused the problem I had was the clutch bypass. Went right to it(after some disassembly) and found the spool valve stuck from the aforementioned aluminum chip! Pretty cool. It took about 8 hours of my labor, but far cheaper than taking it to a shop! And no, with the valve body removed(tight squeeze getting out) it was not obvious. If I remember correctly,the annual subscription is $25 for the first car and $15 for each car after that. Excellent info, and always updated with latest service bulletins. Good luck!

[RexNfx400]

Little story:


Myself, I have repaired a few valve bodies. You know what? I don't anymore. Case in point...Person comes in. I want to save them money. I repair valve body for 1/3 price of tranny rebuild, because they are selling car, broke, car ain't worth it, or whatever. 6-8 months later, clutches or planetary gears fail or whatever. They did not sell said car. Now its my fault. I should have rebuilt it in first place. Thats why shops don't fix, AKA patch. Because, once they touch that tranny...THEY OWN IT.

Just saying, thats why (most)every tranny needs a rebuild. On these rigs anyways.

All the valve bodies these days have loads of problems. Thats why the rest of the tranny fails. Its oil control problems. Its endless.

BTW, did you renew pressure boost valve/sleeve assembly and EPC solenoid? Guaranteed the boost valve is leaking right now as you read this. Well, if your reading this while driving lol.

Also, VERY GOOD JOB ON THE FIX!!

Stay cool