98 escort transmission

[devilbox1400]

I bought a 98 escort with an automatic about three months ago. I knew it had a transmission problem at the time but the car was cheap. It wouldn't shift into third or overdrive. Trans shop said it was junk so I replaced it with one from the junkyard and it seemed fine for about six weeks then reverse went out and it was slipping when taking of from a stop. Got another transmission and put it in and this one is slipping in first and will not shift into overdrive. Was wondering of sitting in the junkyard may have caused the problem with the second replacement and if driving it for a while would clear it up. Only drove it about three miles so far. Sick of dealing with it. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Davescort97]

Doubt that sitting in the boneyard for any reasonable length of time would cause the symptoms you describe. Most Escort automatics rarely have a service life of over 100k. Sounds like you just got another defective tranny. It is a bad deal because of the amount of labor it takes to put one in. Of course, I don't need to tell you that. I've got to ask. Is the fluild level OK?
Slipping in low could be due to the torque converter, 2-4 band too loose, or the main control valve body is sticking. The failure to go into overdrive could be due to TCC failing to lockup, the one way clutch being bad or the main control valve body again.

[devilbox1400]

Thanks for the reply. Fluid level is good. I have one more transmission I found for $250 and will put it in hopefully in the next couple of weeks. The yard says it has 70K on it and it is out of a wrecked car, not abandoned. As far as the install I got it down pretty good now and me and another guy can pull the old one and have the new one in in about five hours. If this one doesn't work I will probably cut my losses and get rid of the thing or just smash out the windows and move the battery to the back seat and enter a demo derby. Thanks again. Will let you know how it turns out.

[zzyzzx2]

Originally Posted by Davescort97

Most Escort automatics rarely have a service life of over 100k.

???

Mine has over 171,000 miles on it. And over at FEOA, high mileage ATX's are not unusual. I have seen one person (I think even here) who said that they rebuilt theirs at 190,000 miles.

[wolfe]

I just used spell check & wiped my whole story away!! so Ill start over. My first Escort I bought about 10 years ago was a 92 that needed a tranny. The women I bought it from had 3 trannys put in in about a year. So after putting in the tranny in & hooking every thing up, I noticed that the Rad over flow bottle looked a little slimmy. THATS WHEN IT HIT ME! The tranny cooler in the radiator was cracked internally & was swapping fliuds with the antifreeze! When the car was running the tranny pressure was pushing fluid into the Rad & when I shut it off & the pressure was gone, & the antifreeze pressure pushed its was into the tranny. Antifreeze ruins the clutch plates. Needless to say, after I changed the Rad, I put 70k more on it with out a problem. FRED

[AzTumbleweed]

I guess I'm glad to have a manual tranny! I've got 294,000 on it. Changed the fluid once. Still original clutch.