Transmission took a dump in my corn flakes.

[Vortech347]

Coming back from an appointment Monday night I noticed the car felt funny shifting into 3rd. Few miles down the road. 3rd and 4th are gone. Drove it home taking back roads using 1st and 2nd.

Its getting a flat bed ride down to a friend of mine that is a auto trans pro at the Ford Dealer. He told he will be upgrading it with a few cheap but very needed parts. Auto's are voodoo to me. He's done a million of these for the local mustang club with excellent reviews.

I had a gut feeling over the past few months this trans was going bye bye. I hate it when I'm right.

Oh, and it lasted 122k before it let go. I haven't been a saint with it but I haven't regularly beat on it. Of course it does this after I change the fluid 2k ago.

Such is life!

[fastblackmerc]

Coming back from an appointment Monday night I noticed the car felt funny shifting into 3rd. Few miles down the road. 3rd and 4th are gone. Drove it home taking back roads using 1st and 2nd.

Its getting a flat bed ride down to a friend of mine that is a auto trans pro at the Ford Dealer. He told he will be upgrading it with a few cheap but very needed parts. Auto's are voodoo to me. He's done a million of these for the local mustang club with excellent reviews.

I had a gut feeling over the past few months this trans was going bye bye. I hate it when I'm right.

Oh, and it lasted 122k before it let go. I haven't been a saint with it but I haven't regularly beat on it. Of course it does this after I change the fluid 2k ago.

Such is life!

Good Luck!

Contact member 88grandmarq for any tricks or tips.

[ctrlraven]

That really sucks. Get the Jmod done while you are at it!

[Mr. Man]

I'm interested in what your friend finds out. From what I've been reading if you lose gears it's possible the solenoid area ovaled and caused the pin to slam into the band and snapped it. There is a guy on Youtube who explains it better. Hiram something er other.

Post up when you get the results. Hope it's not a wallet drainer.:)

[2,4shofast]

Let me know bro, we can swap it out at my house if needed. Sucks!

[Vortech347]

He planned to put a shift kit/Jmod in but I told him not to worry about it. I've gotta keep it smooth since it's the client hauler. He is going to do a few adjustments to increase fluid circulation. That's about all I know. Which is why I didn't want to touch it.

His test drive he texted me and said the direct drive clutch is blown.

[slickster]

This happened after you change the trans fluid?. Did you also replace trans filter? I heard sometimes that's bad if you haven't done it in a long time compared to every 30,000 miles

[88grandmarq]

The direct clutch is a weak point of the transmission, since its the smallest diameter clutch.

Performing the Jmod correctly will not make the transmission shift harshly, I highly recommend the shift valves are updated with the Sonnax units.

From my experience, transmission failures usually happen shortly after service because the filter falls out of the valve body and into the pan.

[babbage]

Got a trans cooler? You have 4.10's right? I remember you talking about long 100+ runs across the desert. You'd be surprised to see the trans temp at those times.

Jmod will be fine for clients unless you have throttle more than 60% open - that's when it's really noticeable.

[Vortech347]

Got the car back on Monday He used the most up to date Ford upgrades/replacements for the full overhaul. Drives fantastic.

Correct I did go through about 75 miles with the cruise at 90-100 with a few jumps to 110. But it was November and 40-50* out. Wasn't to worried. Car did fine and that was about 3 years ago.

The fluid change I did was simply idling the car while letting the trans cooler drain while I re-filled from the top at the same rate. No high pressure was involved.

From what I've read and been told its not out of the norm for the mileage and use of the car. It sees about a 70 city/30 highway use.