I have a 2005 Ford Taurus staton wagon which I use to transport my grandkids and, of course, to have fun. It has 83,000 miles on it, and the transmission went. I had a remanufactured transmission installed and the transmission seems to be operating well. However, when I start the car, it begins to shake - the entire car, the engine, the steering wheel, the coins in the holder, etc. The more it idles, the worse the shake becomes. It does not shake once the car is in motion. The transmission people said they don’t think they did anythng to cause this, but it did not do this before I drove it into their garage. Do you have any idea what this might be? Love your show. It’s so helpful to those of us who know so little about our cars. You’re doing a good thing, and you’re darn funny! Thank you.
It is possible that your shaking is caused by a miss in the engine. Perhaps they bumped a plug wire or vacuum hose off when they were working on it. Is the “check engine” light on? If so, get it checked for free at a parts store. Autozone and O’Reilly’s do it in my area. Other chains will probably do it in yours. Call around. You should not have to pay for this service.
Check engine light is not on at this point although I’ve only driven it about 8 miles since transm install. Car seems to run fine without shaking when it is in motion. Shaking occurs when car is sitting still, immediately after starting or at stop light, for example. Thanks for your prompt response. I do AutoZone first thing tomorrow.
Couple more questions. What is the IAC Valve. Is it affected by transmission performance or installation. Are the motor mounts removed to allow the installation of the new transmission - on 2005 Taurus? Thanks for reply.
Sorry, but one more question. Does the idler figure in here? Is it controlled by the transmission? Thanks again.
The transmission people caused the problem. I think. You say this happens while idling but you do not say if the car is in drive when the vibration occurs. If the vibration occurs in neutral and park, then likely the reason behind the vibration is not transmission related. But if you put the car in gear and the vibration starts, then the problem is related to the drive-train, not the engine.
It is even possible that the transmission was not bolted tight to the engine. I have heard of worse oversights.
It could be a motor mount as well. You can visually check this in most cars by having someone rev the engine in forward and reverse while you watch it from the open hood. The engine will visibly shift position a few degrees if a mount has failed.
Might be your problem.
Normally I’d agree with Kizwiki’s statement that if it shakes in neutral it’s the engine, but in this case I suspect that may not be the case. The transmission assembly would have been removed and the new one installed with the torque converter attached. The torque converter is a fluid coupling device that’s connected to both the engine and the tranny input shaft. The fluid inside absorbs the energy from the engine when idling, allowing the tranny input shaft to be held calm by the brakes. On newer cars it can actually “decouple” the tranny the point that the car will roll backwards on an incline.
Once the car begins to move, a “torque converter lockup clutch” should hard-wire the engine output to the tranny input. I’ve attached a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_converter to help explain.
My suspicion here is that the problem lies in the torques converter lockup not properly decoupling. That defintely falls in the tranny shop’s responsibility.
I’d be interested in hearing from our resident expert Transman here if he happens by.
It’s shaking immediately after starting the car, in park. When I move to drive and the car is moving, no shaking apparent. When I stop for a light/sign, car is still in drive, it shakes. The longer I remain motionless, the more the shaking increases. Hope this helps.
You say that the car shakes when you stop at a light/stop sign. So that would mean the car is in drive at this point. I agree with mountainbike. This sounds like a torque converter issue, particularly since you say that once in motion the shake goes away. I had a problem with a torque converter in 2 different Fords years ago and once the vehicles were in motion, they ran fine. Bottom line is the tranny shop should investigate this further for you since you didn’t have this problem before the transmission was rebuilt.
Your situation is one that I just know if I was allowed to take a look in reality (not via the web) I bet I could see what is out of place or disconnected,thats what I think is wrong. I won’t discount the TCC not uncoupling but I would expect a full stall, this is a hard one to figure out with out a look. Sad that the trans shop just says “not our job” as they have eyes on the car.Does the trans shop offer to take the car in and find the problem? many trans shops are capable of fixing driveability issues also (espically ones they create).