Jerky shift from a stop

[TheDeal526]

2001 Escort ZX2 DOHC
106,875 miles

It seems like once the car reaches normal operating temp. it stutters when accelerating from a stop. I also noticed that when I try to get into the passing gear, sometimes it will just drop out of gear completely. The tranny was rebuilt less than a year ago, and the fluid looks good. I was thinking it maybe a sensor going bad. But any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I plan on taking it back to the shop that rebuilt the tranny, and I would like to have some idea of what's going on here.

Thanks All

[Davescort97]

If you had a sensor going bad it would llight up the CEL. You may have a vacuum leak. It dropping out of gear when the kick down is supposed to work is a problem with the transmission. Take it back.

[zzyzzx2]

I'm thinking that either you have abusive driving habits and/or the rebuilder sucks.

[mikesheldon]

Either its the drivers fault or the clutch plate.Ifs the clutch plate is not working properly it will create this same problem.Look for a nice garage and check the clutch plate of the car.

[Intuit]

Curious. Aside from moving the accelerator all over the place, how can a driver really abuse an automatic transmission ? You press it, it should go. Isn't it that simple ??? (honest question)

[zzyzzx2]

Originally Posted by Intuit

how can a driver really abuse an automatic transmission ?

Aside from obvious lack of maintenance issues:
Neutral drops.
Fast accelleration. (IMO, this is how most people drive though)
Moving it into reverse while still moving forward.
Moving it into drive while the car is moving in reverse.
Towing or otherwise loading down the car and or doing a lot of big hills on a hot day.

[Intuit]

Ah, okay thanks... common sense no-no's. I assume "neutral drop" is shifting it out of neutral with either the RPMs up, or foot on accelerator. Sometimes the Saturn transmission "fools" us into inadvertently doing that because it has an intermittent delayed shift into to reverse. So we have to leave it in neutral until the RPMs drop before shifting into reverse.

[mightymoose_22]

You might have a vacuum leak causing the stutter. The leak might be causing a loss of rpm which thrown the tranny off.