My new husband and I were driving home from the grocery store last week, in our 2005 Ford Taurus, automatic. We passed over some rail road tracks and out of nowhere could no longer accelerate. The transmission seemed to have slipped out of gear, and wouldn’t go back. We pulled over, checked the transmission fluid and it was clear and at the right level. We had to wait a week to have it looked at by a pro, and heard today that it will need a $2000.00 rebuild. Seems fishy to me. All of my more car-savvy friends, upon hearing the symptoms said “It’s probably something simple and cheap.” We had no warning signs of transmission problems and have kept up with the all of the recommended maintenance. Think we’re getting ripped off?
To clarify: The gear shifter will move to into drive and park and reverse etcetera, but the tranmission gears aren’t actually engaging. It’s like it’s constantly in neutral.
Sounds fishy to me, too.
Get a second opinion. I know, easier said than done, but get a second opinion. This could be a shift linkage issue, or something else that does not require a transmission rebuild.
Who is the “pro” you waited a week to see? If you’re lucky Transman may post a reply. Do whatever he says.
One more thing, did you buy your new husband at the grocery store?
The linkages would be the only issue here. Even if every electronic component on this transmission failed, it would still go into any one of the gears and pull. It wouldnt shift, but it would pull. Thats where I would start looking if I were working on this one. Yea, you might end up having to take this one out. Follow up with us on this.
transman
We just got the phone book out and picked a transmission shop close to home who offered free towing. Already we owe these guys $395 for the diagnostic…hesitant to have it sent elsewhere and pay that all over again.
People expect to much from fluid changes, your statement “we kept up with all of the recommended maintiance” leads me to believe that you think you are somehow protected from a major part failure, this is not true, some parts fail early from bad design,not your fault, or abuse, somebodys fault.
You included the information that the transmission “acted up” after crossing railroad tracks, do you think the railroad tracks could somehow play a part in this situation? were the tracks very rough? and did you pass over them at high-speed? possibly causing damage to your car by bottoming out the suspension?
This transmission uses a quill to drive the oil pump. If this were to break, you would lose all drive and reverse. If the transmission technician checked the main line pressure and did not find any, he should be looking at this possibility first. I think the quill can be replaced without removing the transmission. But getting a broken half out or replacing the splines on the torque converter end would require removal and dissassembly of the transmission. As Transman618 requested let us know the cause and resolution of this problem.
No, I don’t think the railroad tracks played any role…they weren’t rough and we were going <20mph. Good news is, we found somebody who will tow to their shop, take a look, and guarantees to charge no more than $1500, even if he performs every task listed on the first mechanics estimate.
If the shift linkage is intact, what about the possibility a halfshaft could have come unseated? One of the 2 CV joints coming loose from the splines in the transmission can prevent the car from moving at all.
While this is a rare thing to occur it is not unheard of. It’s possible that the CV joint could be off of the splines and not leaking ATF because it is still partially inserted into through the shaft seal.
Just something for consideration and it’s very easy to check. One would HOPE the first shop would have looked at this; and especially considering they hit you for 400 bucks for a diagnostic? Ouch.
Why me? We faxed the mechanic who has the car a copy of the estimate from mechanic #2 (significantly lower) in the hopes that perhaps mechanic #1 would come down on his price. No such luck, but it was worth a shot. And to make matters worse: We then called and said ‘Fine. Can we pay you your $395 now and have mechanic #2 come pick the car up tonight?’ Well his response was ?No. You?re going to have to pay me in person, and I won?t have the car ready to be picked up until tomorrow evening.? What? I feel like mechanic #1 is holding the car hostage! Now researching U.S. cities with fabulous public transportation…
What exactly did this guy do for $395 ?? Did you authorize they tear down the transmission to give you an estimate. For 4 bills, it sounds like the trans might be sitting on his bench all taken apart.
transman
Either some of the story is missing or the OP is being taken advantage of.
OP, did you authorize the first shop to tear anything apart, authorize X amount of money to check this or that, etc.? Exactly what was authorized? (although the point could be made the trans does not have to be torn apart to diagnose this problem)
If not, wonder if they ripped the transmission out to assure that they will get the job? Sure sounds like they’ve removed the transmission. I’d be tempted to be there first thing in the morning to see exactly where the transmission is sitting.
what happened?
My wife and I were going out of town to St. Augustine for Thanksgiving tomorrow and our Transmission had died on us. So we’re riding along and both of us notice a kick then the rpm’s start going crazy. We were lucky enough to have made it off the interstate and on to an off ramp. So I don’t really deal with transmissions and I need help on this one. When you shift into gear it is like it is stuck in neutral, in every gear. Can you tell me what this may possibly be? Thanks