03 Ford Taurus Transmission Noise In Park

[pchop]

i was wondering if anyone else had this problem, when i put the car in park or neutral and let it drift to the park position, the car makes a groaning noise from the transmission while out of gear. once it goes back into drive or reverse no noise. thanks for any replies.

[Huney1]

03 Vulcan 48K mi and mine does the same thing. Tranny shifts perfect so I wouldn't sweat it.

[pchop]

i was able to find this tsb but cant find it in its entirety. i tried the ford cds and its not there either thanks keith

TSB #17358 -- GROAN/BUZZ/VIBRATION WHEN THE GEAR SELECTOR IS IN PARK WITH THE VEHICLE PARKED ON AN INCLINE. *TT THIS BULLETIN UPDATES PREVIOUS BULLETIN 17358, DATED 11/01/2003 TO INCLUDE 2005 MODELS. *TT (NHTSA ID #10008183, AUGUST 01 2004)

[Huney1]

Date: 08/01/2004
Component Name: 100000 POWER TRAIN
NHTSA #: 17358
SUMMARY: GROAN/BUZZ/VIBRATION WHEN THE GEAR SELECTOR IS IN PARK WITH THE VEHICLE PARKED ON AN INCLINE. *TT THIS BULLETIN UPDATES PREVIOUS BULLETIN 17358, DATED 11/01/2003 TO INCLUDE 2005 MODELS. *TT

I got it off this page about half way down: http://www.diyautotech.com/technical...RD/2004/TAURUS

Busy today but next week or so I'll swing by the Ford place and ask the service writer to check it out for me. Best way I know to describe what I hear is a sort of scraping sound but it's very faint and not all the time. Maybe Shorod will come along and look up details on the TSB for us 'cause I couldn't find it in it's entirety either.

Have a nice week end.

[pchop]

yea that would be nice to find that tsb in its entirety. i will see if i can get a answer from the dealer to if i do i will post it thanks huney1 for the replies.

[shorod]

Sorry, I don't seem to find that one in my limited TSB library.

-Rod

[Huney1]

Thanks for the effort Rod.
pchop: FYI - I took 1/4" piece of tubing and shoved down the tranny dip stick tube and started it siphoning in a bucket, let it siphon all night and got out about 6 qts of fluid and replaced it with Mobil 1 full synthetic ATF and it really made the tranny shift a lot smoother. I'm about 48K now and will do the same thing at 50K then do a flush at 75K. I know this is an area of controversy, but it works for me. By the way, make darn sure you use Mercon V and not regular Mercon-Dexron.

[pchop]

i just changed the trans fluid and screen, wished i would have used the mobil synthetic. i worked for ford as a tech for 11yrs then hurt my back and had surgery havent worked since. unfortunately i went out in 03 so i missed all the new tsbs . i got a friend at the dealer looking that up for us, he was suppose to get back to me yesterday but didnt hear from him. mercon v does seem to break down quickly. thanks for all replies, ill get that posted as soon as i get it. thanks keith

[Huney1]

Mercon V is a synthetic blend ATF holds up to heat better and maintains lube properties better when hot. You can use Mercon V where it calls for Mercon, but you can't use Mercon if it specifies Mercon V. Mobil 1 full syn is about six bucks a qt so it would cost about $90. bucks to fill your tranny with it. I find using my siphon method works jusy fine and easy to refurbish/refresh your ATF that way instead of doing a complete change. I bought mine used from senior citizen couple from up North and mostly Interstate miles on it and it's been babied and driven under easy conditions.

Some maintenance items went out a little premature but nothing I fault Ford for. I'm old and fussy and I really like the European styling, way it rides and drives, performance and gas mileage are great and plenty of room for my 6' frame & long legs, so I'm gonn'a drive it 'til I get tired of it or I take the long dirt nap.

[Huney1]

F Y I - This from another forum:
"Mercon, like DexronIII, is your typical mineral oil ATF.

Mercon-V is a synthetic blend(or high group II/II+ ratio) ATF which provides more consistent cold weather performance(similar to the new DexronVI's cold performance). Being a blend also helps it tolerates the heat in the transmission meaning less oxidation and less varnish buildup. Mercon-V has better long term anti-shudder(more longer life HFM's). The VII is more shear stable and the AW performance is better.

MerconV is an excellent upgrade to anyone using Dexron/Mercon and doesn't want to pay the price for a full synthetic boutique ATF or for DexronVI. Most multivehicle ATFs(like Castrol/Pennzoil) are similar.

The original Motorcraft Mercon-V wasn't blended to be all seal compatible. So, Ford had some issues with it when used in normal Mercon applications and with certain MerconV transmissions(yes there were red bottle and black bottle MerconVs with different seal issues). How's that for OEM cost cutting(less technical spec mumbo jumbo)?? This is probably the only case where an OEM ATF needed to be updated several times for being inferior. Because of this, some owners, running to the dealer for the wrong ATF, had some issues, hence the start of the anti-MerconV in Mercon trannies TSBs .
But, most of the aftermarket fluids that were Mercon-V were also blended for Dexron and Mercon, making them one of the 1st univeral ATFs and PSFs. As far as I can tell, the aftermarket ATFs never had the issues that Motorcraft ATF had."