2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

[TilliamWe]

First let me beg your forgiveness, as I do not have much information at all. But I know some of you guys just know these things, so I wanted to ask.

** The car is a 2005 with a 3.0 OHV V6, overdrive trans, with under 70,000 miles on it **

My wife has a cousin (the kind of person that bad things always happen to, and she can't figure out why) who drives a Ford Taurus. I don't even know the year, but it's not one of the round back window ones, it's the next body style they went to, after that disaster. Supposedly the car won't go faster than 20mph, and it won't shift. I have yet to look at the car, but wondered if this is truly a deadly internal problem, or possible a simple electrical issue.

This girl's sister mentioned something about brown fluid in the trans, and so they think someone (possibly the driver) poured non-transmission fluid in it. I know what burned trans fluid looks and smells like, and I actually do have some prepaid oil analysis containers that I could take a sample.

What should I look for, in particular if I get a chance to inspect/drive this car?

 

[hawg boss]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Well you don't have enough info for a good diag.Whats needed is the year,engine size,those 2 things will help me help you.

 

[jakebrake]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

sounds like a valve body issue. a vacuum leak would mess with the sifthing, but that fluid is either toasted, or contaminated (my guess is the latter of the two) in my opinion, a trans flush is a little too late if that is the case.

not seeing the car makes it tough to diagnose. if you live close by, go take a whiff of the fluid in question.

anything other than tranny fluid is gonna be lights out, i hate to say it.

 

[hawg boss]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

If it's an early model it could be the TV cable broken and it won't upshift also if he has a plugged cat chances are it may not get the rpm's up enough to upshift.He also could have a broken intermediate servo spring.The year and engine will be a first step and then maybe we can help him.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Yeah, it's a her, and I don't know the year of the car. It's somewhere between a 2000 and a 2005, most likely a 2001- 2003. It's a 3.0 V6 Vulcan, not the DOHC, just like most all of them.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Ok, I went to look at the car today, but didn't get to drive it, cause the driver left the keys in her mom's car. (Again, I am not dealing with the brightest bulb here).

2005 Taurus with the standard 3.0V6 OHV, 4sp overdrive automatic.

The story is, that with no warning, it just refused to shift out of first gear one day, after having been driven as usual in light small city traffic. (Please note, it's been hot here, 99 degrees for a few days in a row) They got the vehicle home and checked the fluid. It was supposedly way overfull (I doubt it) and the driver's boyfriend thought it smelled like it had gasoline in it. They changed the transmission filter and fluid. They test drove the car, and it still wouldn't shift.

What I observed was transmission fluid that didn't look as bright red as brand new fluid should, but it did not stink. I couldn't start the car to check the level. I identified two electrical plugs on top of the case. One that the actual shift linkage is attached to, and another micro-pin plug, with 8 or so pins. I pulled that pin apart, and there was some foreign material that fell out (an insect wing, minor dust), and a little pinkish/whitish looking material on a couple of pins. I cleaned that off and put the plug back.

Maybe by some miracle I'll get to drive the car tomorrow. I am expecting it to not shift out of first gear.

So what say yee Ford transmission gurus? What causes an alledgedly perfectly operating transmission to stick in low gear?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Well well well, I got to drive the car today. After I tightened the battery cables on the newly installed used battery. Yep a used battery!
While the trans was still cold, I checked the fluid level and it was a little low.
I drove the car about 4 blocks, never at a speed above 30mph. Guess what? It does shift into second gear, after needlessly revving to 3000rpm. But as soon as it shifts into 2nd gear, it shift back down into first again. Not wanting to hurt it more I didn't try to make it go back into 2nd. The "Check Transmission" warning came on in the digital driver information center. When I got back to their house, I checked the fluid again, and it was on the stick, but just barely, so it's a quart low. Also, smoke came out of the dipstick hole! Yikes!
I recommended they take it to a professional at this point. Any idea what codes a Ford Transmission will generate?

On a side note, this car has only 62,000 miles on it. And while it has not been loved as it should have, to burn up a trans in 62k is just sad. The tranny should be stronger than this!

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

Yea what a piece, pretty sad that 20 years after the Taurus earned a reputation for trans problems that it still has them.
I do know a good many good many go 100 and 200k miles but some also die at 25k and 62k.

Oh well. Some go, Some blow.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

Re: Ford taurus trans issue

I recommended they take it to a professional at this point. Any idea what codes a Ford Transmission will generate?

http://www.obd-codes.com/

 

[hawg boss]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

Sorry I've been away for a couple days.I think she has a AX4N trans and it is electronic (it has no throttle cable).I wonder if the engine will rev.up freely when you sit in park,does the rpms go up normal when you give gas? You said it will shift about 3k rpm,I think what you might be feeling it go into 3rd gear and it's by-passing 2nd.When driving the car pay attention to the speedo and see if it is working smooth or doe's the needle jump around a little? If you had the trans codes down on a peice of paper, that would tell me a lot.You can go to Auto zone and they'll read them for you.This could be a vehicle speed sensor.

 

[jacksonjrs]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

Transmission is fried. I work at a shop that specializes in rebuilding them and we constantly see ax4n transmissions. Usually about 2-4 a week and we are a pretty small shop. The more you drive it at this point the more expensive it will be to fix.

 

[hawg boss]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

He didn't say it was fried.The concern is no upshift .Depending on the codes it still might be a speed sensor.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

It seemed to accelerate just fine and smoothly. I did not stare at the speedo, but I didn't notice it jumping. I sort of doubt it was trying to shift all the way to 3rd, cause the upshift only dropped the rpms about 700. But it was hard to tell, cause it immediately started to downshift.
I told the owner to get it somewhere to get the codes read. The one place she can go, her dad works at part-time, so if it's just the sensor, they will tell the truth.
jackson, why does driving it any more make it more expensive? Aren't the failed parts already failed? Or do these things go in stages? If so, what's the minimum repair and at what point is it better to put in an entire reman unit? Thanks

 

[dolluper]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

Get any codes yet

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: 2005 Ford Taurus trans issue...Updated

Sorry, I doubt I'll ever know the whole story. This person is the type of horse that you lead to the water, but instead of drinking, she'll pee in it, poop in it, then bathe in it, spend a million dollars cleaning up the environmental waste, then pay for bottled water, and then cry about how she got cheated!

Get my point? I have done what I can, advised her what to do, now all I can do is wait for her not to do it!

I thank you all for your responses and interest. If by some miracle I ever find out what's wrong with it, before it gets fixed, I will post another update.