2000 Windstar Pulls out in Second

[MrCreosote]

I have seen posted some very specific areas to check for very specific transmission malfunctions.

I anyone can suggest what might be the problem with mine always wanting to pull out in second, I would greatly appreciate it.

It is pretty bad. Yesterday it did it on a very steep hill. It wanted no parts of 1st gear. A couple of times, I pull out into traffic and didn't get first, resulting in an unsafe maneuver.

If I really floor it, it will go in second for a couple seconds then downshifts quite hard into 1st - so hard, I never try to make it do that.

It slowly started doing this over the last few thousand miles. Car as 128k. At somewhere around 100k, the transmission failed and a good used transmission was put in it (had about 50k or less miles on it.)

Thanks again,
Tom

[MARZBX157]

From what Your saying, it sounds to me like the Transmmision Range Sensor could be bad. There are a lot of threads on this subject. it's the sensor that sits on top of the tranny, under the intake air filter box. You can try uplugging the connector while the engine is running and drive it around the block and see if the tranny shifts through all gears (might shift harsh). If it does, then you need to change the it. Do a search in this forum under Transmission Range Sensor or also known as a Neutral Safety Switch.

[wiswind]

I remember a post stating that if you select "2" on the gear selector....that the vehicle will not use 1st....and will start out in 2nd.
This would be consitant with a defective transmission range sensor, as metioned by MARZBX157

This SAME part is often called Neutral Safety switch....same part.....2 names.
If you unplug the TRS, the vehicle should not start....as the Neutral safety function prevents the vehicle from being started in in any gear selection other than Park, and Neutral......so the starter function passes through that electrical connection as well.

I have not done this.....so I am only repeating what I have read from other posts......
Do not do this on a steep hill.....you want to make sure that your parking brake will hold the vehicle from drifting......should the vehicle not properly shift back into "Park"......or into a gear when you select one....

What people have done, locate the plug.....and make sure that it comes off....and that you can safely get to it when the engine is running......set the parking brake.......start the vehicle......unplug the electrical connector to the TRS (Will cause a fault code to be set as the computer now sees that the TRS is "not there"), drive.......if it now uses all gears (but may shift very hard)....then the TRS is most likely the cause of you not having 1st gear.

[MrCreosote]

Since I was getting these shaky problems in Drive, I thought the Neutral Safety Switch was probably not involved because it provides the same information while in Drive. If it was an issue where I was using the Gear Selector, that would be another matter.

I was hopeful it was the vacuum leak from my long overdue Isolator bolt job.

I put new Ford bolts in (thats all) and the difference in the way the transmission and engine controls behave is amazing.

Nice pull outs in 1st,
Smooth shift to 2nd under power,
Transmission aggressively tries to get to OD/locked convertor (I really like that.)
Crising at 60 mph just touching the gas pedal (I really like that too.)
______________________

Another bit of information, I had a thread where I shortened the metal shoulder on a lathe of the OE bolts hoping the rubber would hold out.

No such luck.

The free height of the rubber should on the .025 shortened OE's was .210 and the new bolt rubber was .270 inches which is quite a dramatic difference.

I've got close to 2000 miles of trips to drive and I'm seriously considering putting a trans cooler on. I definitely want to DIY change the fluid.