knocking, and transmission problems

[redwilly]

hi i have a 96' ford taurus and i have a couple problems that you might be able to help me with..

there is a mysterious knocking that is pretty quit but without music on it is apparent, it seems to be coming from the left side of the engine but i cant really tell.. is there any way i can fix this without taking it to the shop?

Also, the transmission has trouble shifting into 1st gear. When you come to a stop and then when you first accelerate it take a second ar to and then it goes into gear and it jerks the whole car. At least i think thats what is happening. Can you please tell me what this is? (my dad says its the torque converter, but i dont think he knows what hes talking about)

btw, the car has 111,900 miles on it

Thanks for all your help!

[brokenantimatter]

Engine please(this will help us in determining your transmission type)
Anyways listen to your dad, it is probably the transmission or torque convertor. I would first look into changing the filter and having the transmission flushed.

[redwilly]

i believe it has a 3.0L V6, thanks for the help

[taurusdude06]

hey, wanna sell it for parts

[redwilly]

how much are you willing to pay for it?

i can take some pictures if your really serious about buying it.

i dont really like the look of the tauruses anyway...

[Huney1]

Make sure the shop understands you want a FLUSH and not fluid change. Flush costs around $120. and should do it every 50 to 60K miles. It takes a special machine to do a flush so tell the shop you'd like to watch them do it. Doing the flush is good preventive maintenance and whole heck of a lot cheaper than rebuilding a tranny. If it's never been flushed the tranny is 'prolly big time gummed up. The link shows the color of the tranny fluid before and after the flush along with the flush machine and explains the difference between a fluid change and flush. http://www.dynatune.com/trans.htm

*Provided* you adhere to the maintenance schedule called for in the owners manual, . . . . . with 112K miles you have a lot of miles left on that Taurus. Take care of it and not unusual to see Taurus engines go 300K miles still running fine. Good luck with the flush and hope that fixes it.

[seasonalskier2006]

Originally Posted by redwilly

hi i have a 96' ford taurus and i have a couple problems that you might be able to help me with..

there is a mysterious knocking that is pretty quit but without music on it is apparent, it seems to be coming from the left side of the engine but i cant really tell.. is there any way i can fix this without taking it to the shop?

Also, the transmission has trouble shifting into 1st gear. When you come to a stop and then when you first accelerate it take a second ar to and then it goes into gear and it jerks the whole car. At least i think thats what is happening. Can you please tell me what this is? (my dad says its the torque converter, but i dont think he knows what hes talking about)

btw, the car has 111,900 miles on it

Thanks for all your help!

well....i have some good news and bad news about the tranny thing, the good news is i just went through that same problem, the bad news is, is that it is a $1700 repair, flushing the tranny and putting a new filter on it is no good it wont do you any good. I have one question though, did your car ever overheat? As a warning DO NOT drive the car anymore, have it towed or something because you could do some more serious damage to the tranny. Take it to a transmission specialist, they might be able to fix it for about 900-1100 if your car has never overheated, but if it has overheated before you have done some severe damage to the tranny. (the a$$ who had mine before me was too lazy to replace the radiator when it started leaking and sold it to me with $3700 worth of repairs for me to fix , with many different things that were broke) So if your car did overheat, bring it to a mechanic for a full lookover just in case. I am really sorry that had to happen it always sucks to tell someone that but it has to be done. pm me if you have any questions!

[seasonalskier2006]

Originally Posted by Huney1

Make sure the shop understands you want a FLUSH and not fluid change. Flush costs around $120. and should do it every 50 to 60K miles. It takes a special machine to do a flush so tell the shop you'd like to watch them do it. Doing the flush is good preventive maintenance and whole heck of a lot cheaper than rebuilding a tranny. If it's never been flushed the tranny is 'prolly big time gummed up. The link shows the color of the tranny fluid before and after the flush along with the flush machine and explains the difference between a fluid change and flush. http://www.dynatune.com/trans.htm

*Provided* you adhere to the maintenance schedule called for in the owners manual, . . . . . with 112K miles you have a lot of miles left on that Taurus. Take care of it and not unusual to see Taurus engines go 300K miles still running fine. Good luck with the flush and hope that fixes it.

while this may sound good it will do you no good now, the tranny is completly gone.

[Huney1]

"while this may sound good it will do you no good now, the tranny is completly gone." Wow, that's a shame and I wonder how many trannys fail due to neglect not having the fluid changed or flushed like the manual calls for. Every Saturday morning I spend quality time with our Taurus and Marquis checking fluid levels and take a flash light and do a good look around top side and underneath. Like the man said, "You can pay me now or pay me later," and paying him now isn't usually near as expensive as paying him later when it's totally crapped out or broke.

[redwilly]

thanks for the advice, the car has never overheated before but its starting to get warmer and almost got in the red on the gauge the other day, its in the high 60's, farenhiet.

so the only way to fix it is to take it to a transmission specialist?

lately its getting worse and the engine will rev up on the rpm's a couple times before getting into gear, but i still drive it since its all i got and its better than riding the bus..

[Huney1]

so the only way to fix it is to take it to a transmission specialist?

What with it revving up before going in gear, I'd say make a tranny shop your next stop pronto. I'd get three repair bids from different shops and go from there.

[seasonalskier2006]

Originally Posted by redwilly

thanks for the advice, the car has never overheated before but its starting to get warmer and almost got in the red on the gauge the other day, its in the high 60's, farenhiet.

so the only way to fix it is to take it to a transmission specialist?

lately its getting worse and the engine will rev up on the rpm's a couple times before getting into gear, but i still drive it since its all i got and its better than riding the bus..

No it really isnt. I am a senior in high school, so believe me i know how awful it is to ride the stupid twinkie (bus). But you are running the risk of doing so much more damage, mabie even have to replace you drive train. Take the time and search for a transmission specialist because if you bring it to a mechanic who will send it to a tranny specialist and charge you like 100-200 more to do that. and if it is even close to the red you are overheating the car and will more than likely blow the head gasket, check ALL your fluids before you drive the car anywhere until it is fixed. And believe me that little jerk in the tranny can cause you to strip all of your gear and then you are looking at probably 1000 more (i am not positive about this, i have never had to replace one, this is an educated guess). Protect yourself too, it is really dangerous to drive the car like that to you and everyone around you. I know i sound paranoid and a safety freak, seriously though i am not here to lecture you on the safety of it but honestly, get it fixed before you get even more problems like on my car (leaking radiator caused 1) the head gasket to blow 2) the tranny to break 3) a oil leak due to a broken oil filter [not huge but a pain in the ass to clean up] 4) a new radiator 5) all new hoses leading to and from the radiator) So believe me never put off a repair. So i guess what i am trying to tell you is please for the love of God, get the car fixed early. Dont fuck the rest of your life over by going into dept from wanting to drive it for a few more weeks. by the way, if you dont minding me asking what color smoke is your exaust? Is it really white and pouring out the tailpipe?

Side note for my safety:

By the way for all you gear heads that are doing this or this or plotting to kill me for torturing my car, I DID NOT DO THIS TO IT. I bought the car and later figured out what the guy did to it, and like most of you who are complete gear heads, i apologised to the car, and i am doing everything in my power to make him pay for what he did to my baby.

[Psychopete]

IMO, if I had to drop 1,700 in a 96 Taurus, I would buy a $500 rear wheel drive car and fix it's issues for a lot cheaper - not to mention how much more reliable it would be. Bought an 87 Marquis for $400 w/ bad AOD transmission, changed transmission for $300. Only problem I've had is the starter, easy fix on rear wheel - Basically dependable cruise ship/car for $750 with a nice comfortable interior. Low Performance 5.0L w/ grey top injectors, gas mileage isn't too bad.

My 3.8L 93' Taurus tranny was on it's way out - sold it for $60, didn't want anything to do with it. Especially replacing it with another transmission that's prone to fail. You have to be joking me .

But get it checked out. If they want more than the car is worth, you might want to consider getting something different. It could be something relatively simple, but like what was said: If you let something simple go related to the transmission, the damage factor is going to increase at an increaring rate. They're not that bad of a car, just some have issues in the worst possible places.

Pete

[redwilly]

Originally Posted by Psychopete

IMO, if I had to drop 1,700 in a 96 Taurus, I would buy a $500 rear wheel drive car and fix it's issues for a lot cheaper - not to mention how much more reliable it would be. Bought an 87 Marquis for $400 w/ bad AOD transmission, changed transmission for $300. Only problem I've had is the starter, easy fix on rear wheel - Basically dependable cruise ship/car for $750 with a nice comfortable interior. Low Performance 5.0L w/ grey top injectors, gas mileage isn't too bad.

My 3.8L 93' Taurus tranny was on it's way out - sold it for $60, didn't want anything to do with it. Especially replacing it with another transmission that's prone to fail. You have to be joking me .

But get it checked out. If they want more than the car is worth, you might want to consider getting something different. It could be something relatively simple, but like what was said: If you let something simple go related to the transmission, the damage factor is going to increase at an increaring rate. They're not that bad of a car, just some have issues in the worst possible places.

Pete

well i paid about 2 grand for the car and ive already been told that i need new struts or somthing like that (something related to shocks) which will run me about $600, and the transmission problems will probably be at least a couple hundred dollars so im starting to think i should just get a new car...