transmission shifting problem 95 3,8L

[joss97]

Hi guys, the problem I have with my transmission is that it will downshift from OD to 2nd then upshift to 3rd when coasting from highway speed to about 45-50mph. Let it run on 3rd speed without the OD and it will not do that. I also have problem when accelerating, the cutoff will engage at 4000rpm and the transmission will not upshift until I let it slow a bit, I have experience that in 1st and 2nd gear. There is some time the motor stall and I suspect that the tranny is still engage in a high gear and make the rpm so low when braking before a turn that the engine stall. I also experience problem of power when the tranny shift in second, it seem that it pull good at some rpm and is very underpowered at other. All that with a 3,8l engine and about 240000 miles on it. No idea the maintenance of the car but oil seem to be in good shape and the level is OK. It's a lot of things but I wish someone can help me. I never see the check engine light comes on but when I go to tranny shop, they tells me that the VSS is fault but I have read on other post that the light comes on when the VSS is not right. Don't want to put big money on that car so the more I can check before having to change pieces, the better it would be.

Thanks

[AZ_KitKat]

Originally Posted by joss97

Hi guys, the problem I have with my transmission is that it will downshift from OD to 2nd then upshift to 3rd when coasting from highway speed to about 45-50mph. Let it run on 3rd speed without the OD and it will not do that. I also have problem when accelerating, the cutoff will engage at 4000rpm and the transmission will not upshift until I let it slow a bit, I have experience that in 1st and 2nd gear. There is some time the motor stall and I suspect that the tranny is still engage in a high gear and make the rpm so low when braking before a turn that the engine stall. I also experience problem of power when the tranny shift in second, it seem that it pull good at some rpm and is very underpowered at other. All that with a 3,8l engine and about 240000 miles on it. No idea the maintenance of the car but oil seem to be in good shape and the level is OK. It's a lot of things but I wish someone can help me. I never see the check engine light comes on but when I go to tranny shop, they tells me that the VSS is fault but I have read on other post that the light comes on when the VSS is not right. Don't want to put big money on that car so the more I can check before having to change pieces, the better it would be.

Thanks

Well, I may not have such great news for you. I had a 94 Cougar XR7 which holds an identical drive setup as your Windstar. The prob we had with it was similar to yours: When cruising at ANY speed over 40 mph the trans would shift itself to nuetral, tach up to 4-5K rpms and then drop itself into 2nd or 3rd gear and eventually resume OD. The bad thing about this was that it never threw any codes, and was VERY intermittent. Not even giving it to my mech for the weekend and putting 250 miles on it let him see what it was doing. Did the usual fixes like replacing the nuetral switch and checking the clutch for wear to no avail. Unfortunately it got worse, and one morning the AT cable snapped from all the stress the trans had put it thru over the past six months of slipping and all I had were 1st & 2nd gears. Replaced the trans with a rebuilt unit ($1800) and was good for 3 months. Again start slipping with a hard thud added to the mix. Shop insisted that it was a bad torque converter and replaced it no charge...twice...and it still did it. By that time the original trans was rebuilt so they dropped it back in. Still slipped, still thunked, and still no idea why. Ford couldn't find a problem with it, although they knew of similar conditions, but because they didn't do the original work they wanted to put their own trans into it. Eventually, the trans died again and after just doing a top end refit on the motor ($1200) we didn't see the need for the continued headache. Traded the Cougar for an '02 Windstar and happy since. Although we just got the nasty 171 & 174 codes that are going around, its a good ride. Again, I hope your trans doesn't share the fate that ours did, but it sounded similar so I thought you should know.