tranny constantly trying to shift

[jamesjeg1214]

The transmission in my 96 windstar sounds and feels like its trying to shift whenever I am holding steady pressure on the gas pedal. The fluid is good and there doesn't seem to be any other problems with it. It shifts up and down just fine. Please let me know if you can help.

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by jamesjeg1214

The transmission in my 96 windstar sounds and feels like its trying to shift whenever I am holding steady pressure on the gas pedal. The fluid is good and there doesn't seem to be any other problems with it. It shifts up and down just fine. Please let me know if you can help.

Not really sure what you are trying to describe here . Is it slipping in higher gears, 3-4? or popping in & out of 4th/OD? Could also be your torque converter locking/unlocking. How do you know your ATF is "good"? have you changed it every 30Kmi or had the pan off & filter changed? How many miles on the van?
Joel

[jamesjeg1214]

The van has 161,000 miles on it. I just bought it two days ago at a dealership. It is doing this in all the gears whenever I try to maintain a steady speed. No slippage during acceleration or deceleration. Sometimes it slips out of gear while going around corners and then slams into second gear. The fluid is at the right level and it's clean. I have not had the pan off and the filter looks new. I have never seen a automatic transmission do this before.

[rodeo02]

The only way to get at or see the ATF filter or condition of the tranny is to drop the tranny pan. With 160K+mi on an AX4S AT, it is likely shot. Most dont make it to 100Kmi. These are not hardy trannies . This does not sound like an electronics (soleniod or speed sensor) issue since the AT does shift normally if you accelerate slowly.
G/luck
Joel

[ModMech]

Another thing to considre is the A/C. When the A/C clutch cycles, it feels like (and can actually cause) a downshift/upshift. The A/C will run in the A/C, MAX A/C, or Defrost modes. Our '98 does this.

[madmax40965]

What you are saying or not saying , i should say is a harsh downshift....I would bet money you have a bad transmission range sensor. It costs around
60.00 . It is located on the top of the tranny and has two screws holding it. You can see it if you look at the tranny from the drivers side. If you are lucky it will just have water in it and can be dried out and used for a while till you can get a new one.

[amantalv]

I'm seeing something similar in my '03. With the A/c engaged, and foot on the throttle, I can see and feel the RPMs go up about 2-300 every 14-18 seconds. I'm assuming this coincides with the cycling of the A/C compressor. It feels like a downshift/upshift in a matter of a second. This can't be normal because it never did it before a month ago. Any ideas? Windstar has got about 36k miles on her. Thanks.