1998 Windstar -Transmission help

[danaman77]

Our windstar has what seems to be a serious transmission problem. It stopped working a couple of miles from home and after sitting awhile we were able to engage drive and limp home in only first gear very slow speed.
It has limited forward movement in drive only. At times, it will surge in reverse with big and hard movement. Most of the time, if I place it in reverse bring the motor to 2k rpm, i get no movement and will smell clutch.

I replaced the transmission range sensor (aka nuetral density switch) this weekend. With a sucessful installation, the car started in nuetral and I found that the front wheels were engage in nuetral as the vehical was on jacks and the wheels had no ground contact/load. Is this normal?
Anyone have an idea what I should look at next?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you might lend!

[RickMN]

Yes, you will get some movement in neutral with the vehicle up on jack stands. This is normal.

[danaman77]

Originally Posted by danaman77

Our windstar has what seems to be a serious transmission problem. It stopped working a couple of miles from home and after sitting awhile we were able to engage drive and limp home in only first gear very slow speed.
It has limited forward movement in drive only. At times, it will surge in reverse with big and hard movement. Most of the time, if I place it in reverse bring the motor to 2k rpm, i get no movement and will smell clutch.

I replaced the transmission range sensor (aka nuetral density switch) this weekend. With a sucessful installation, the car started in nuetral and I found that the front wheels were engage in nuetral as the vehical was on jacks and the wheels had no ground contact/load. Is this normal?
Anyone have an idea what I should look at next?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you might lend!

with it intermittent surging in reverser(at times will lock up and create limited movement before it releases and then stand-still), would you look next at a frozen torque converter or a shift body issue?