94 Sable Tranny and Starting Problems

[Rudenate3]

I have a 1994 Mercury Sable V6 3.0 and the tranny died about a year or so ago. I know that model had a weak piston i believe it was in the tranny. My question is: Is there a way to have the Transmission rebuilt so that it won't break again? I heard that you can put in a substitute piston made of steel or a stronger metal. Also how much would this cost?

The car has been sitting for about a year. I tried jump starting it the other day. It won't start. What happens is i hear it turn over and it trys to start, but doesn't get there. It gets to about .5k rpms than trys to start again and again etc. Put more fuel in it, I cleaned off the battery terminals to no avail. Anyone got any ideas on what could be wrong and how to solve this problem?

[i81_u812]

I have a 1994 Mercury Sable LS V6 3.8 and the transmission died 3+ years ago at about 95,000 of mileage. With regard to your question: "...I heard that you can put in a substitute piston made of steel or a stronger metal. Also how much would this cost?" I had the option of getting a new Motorcraft transmission for about $2600+, or replacing that piston-like part for $1700+. I decided to go cheap and got that updated/re-designed piston part(s?) installed. So far it's been working fine. The car just got over 160,000 miles and seems going strong. No transmission problems since the repair. (BTW, my wife likes to drive hard and she blew the head gasket(s) in the meantime. So, there have been _other_ problems with the car. But the transmission seems holding up fine after repair.) Hope this helps somewhat.
{Regarding the other "it-won't-start"-thing... sorry, no idea.}

[kuvasz101]

they have had numerous problems with that 3.8 engine and the head gasket. Ford had extended the warranty on that engine but you are way over that now. It sounds like you got your miles out of that motor. It might be worth putting a rebuilt in it.

[willpower101]

Originally Posted by Rudenate3

I have a 1994 Mercury Sable V6 3.0 and the tranny died about a year or so ago. I know that model had a weak piston i believe it was in the tranny. My question is: Is there a way to have the Transmission rebuilt so that it won't break again? I heard that you can put in a substitute piston made of steel or a stronger metal. Also how much would this cost?

The car has been sitting for about a year. I tried jump starting it the other day. It won't start. What happens is i hear it turn over and it trys to start, but doesn't get there. It gets to about .5k rpms than trys to start again and again etc. Put more fuel in it, I cleaned off the battery terminals to no avail. Anyone got any ideas on what could be wrong and how to solve this problem?

dude. put new plugs in it, dist cap and button.

[kuvasz101]

I know this is old school, but try spraying a little ether in it. Don't over do it, that stuff floods a motor fast.