95 automatic transmission | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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95 automatic transmission

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noackrite

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i towed home my 1st thunderbird yestarday(7-21-08) it is a 95 with a 4.6L and a auto trans. i put in a battery and it cranked right up after sitting for 5 months.i backed out the driveway and then into drive and down the street i go .1st gear was fine,2nd gear was fine,i hit 45 MPH and let off the gas.when i gave it some gas to pick up some more speed...nothing...engine revs up and it dont go.when it slowed down to about 30 MPH i felt it go into gear,gave it some gas and it picked up speed only to do the same thing.
i can make the car get to about 55 MPH let off the gas and the same thing happens.i can also give it alot of gas and it will go into "passing gear" then do the same when i let off the gas.
i am not sure if it is AODE or if it is a 4R70W.
i hope it is an electrical issue and not a hard part issue but i am not holding my breath.
any help is appriciated.

noackrite

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that is a 4r7ow those trannies did have a few problems in them u are better off buying a good used one from the bone yard from 150 - 275 depending on the milage on them. i have one in my car that is doing almost the same thing but it is also doing a shutter but that is the torque converter doing that. i have been a mechanic for the past 6 years i have seen a lot of problems with those trannies.
 
95 trany shutter

What did you end up doing....replace the trany?? I have a 95 that I rairly drive and while haveing a little fun with the passing gear I fear I damaged the trany.....now it shutters between shifing into overdrive....can control it with gas peddle work and sometimes locking out overdrive, but I want it fixed without much $ added.

Any Ideas??

Thanks
~ r.r.~😕
 
belive it or not,the car still sits today without any attention. i did go to a junkyard to see about some parts for my 65 falcon and asked the yard owner about a trans for the t-bird. he told me he had one for $200. come to find out it was for a 4.0 and not a 4.6. as far as the shuttering of the transmissions. i have read that it is a factory fluid problem and to fix it you need to drain the tourque converter while changing the filter.
 
i called around to another junkyard and i found a trans for my car. it came from a cash for clunkers car. some one traded in a 95 cougar with 17,000 miles on it . i got the trans for $687.50 and it came with a new tourqe converter because the engine was locked up and they couldn't get the old converter off. i think i made out like a bandit.
 
Chattering '95

NOACKRITE: How is that used trany working out. I'm looking at doing the fluid replacement and filter to see if it has any effect????....sure would like to have this fixed......anybody else out there have any experience with this
problem????

What a great looking body style the '95 has....going to be a classic.

THANX
 
rickreyer,
You're not going to get a cheap fix. You may be able to prolong the time until the tranny will no longer shift into OD, but it will not fix your problem. The for transmissions have weak OD bands that damage easily. There's no getting around it in the stock configuration. There are things that can be done, but you are already past that now.

As for treating the symptoms, it depends on how many miles are on the tranny. But generally, a complete tranny flush will not cause any more damage, but may make current damage more noticeable.

If it were me, I would do the tranny flush. I would (if you don't have the tools, know-how, or energy) take it to a reputable mechanic. Make sure that they cut the filter open to see if there is any metal shavings in the fluid. Most places don't do this. It will give you an indication if there is more wrong, which is likely in your case.

When replacing your fluid, add a quality additive like Lucas or BG. I've used both in various transmission and both work well to eliminate slippage and smooth out the shift points. When I flush my Thunderbird tranny later this year, I will add the BG transmission treatment, if that's worth anything. My transmission is Ford's AOD which is not a lot different from the 4r70w in yours. The biggest difference is being able to electronically delete over drive as well as the torque converter being able to fully lock in the 4r70w. I will be running a non-locking converter (9.5" with a 3000 rpm stall) with a custom valve body capable of electronically deleting OD.

The other thing that you could do to help lengthen the life of the tranny is to have a tuner (person, not the device) increase the line pressure of the fluid and alter the shift points slightly. You will have a firmer shift, but you will be minimizing the time "between" gears which causes wear and eventually failure. My line pressure is as high as I can adjust it and it snaps my head back on the 1-2 shift. However, I believe I'm putting a lot more torque to the ground than your average Thunderbird as well, so that also plays a huge roll in how hard the shift feels!

I say all this assuming it was your OD band that was damaged. If it was not your band, but rather a gear, there's nothing you can do, short of rebuilding the transmission that will fix your symptoms. If it's the OD band and it's not destroyed already, the above things should help it survive a bit longer. It's a gamble really.
 
trany probs

Thanks, That's a world of possibilities....I'm taking it to a Ford Dealer in Foley Alabama, to have the fluids changed, I'll ask for some of your recomendations. It's a car I don't drive much and keep it at our beach house, I'm hopeing for the best!

Rick
 
noackrite said:
i towed home my 1st thunderbird yestarday(7-21-08) it is a 95 with a 4.6L and a auto trans. i put in a battery and it cranked right up after sitting for 5 months.i backed out the driveway and then into drive and down the street i go .1st gear was fine,2nd gear was fine,i hit 45 MPH and let off the gas.when i gave it some gas to pick up some more speed...nothing...engine revs up and it dont go.when it slowed down to about 30 MPH i felt it go into gear,gave it some gas and it picked up speed only to do the same thing.
i can make the car get to about 55 MPH let off the gas and the same thing happens.i can also give it alot of gas and it will go into "passing gear" then do the same when i let off the gas.
i am not sure if it is AODE or if it is a 4R70W.
i hope it is an electrical issue and not a hard part issue but i am not holding my breath.
any help is appriciated.

noackrite
Click to expand...

Hey noackrite, no idea if you'll get this but I've got the same problem on my 97, gearing down from O/D and then slipping in third, I don't know the cause but if I slow down enough to manualy engage 2nd it runs and then when I stick it straight back into drive the problem goes away completely at least for a week or so.
If you had a complete fix done and get this, let me know about it!
 
I had a '94 with slipping between shifts... I read on the net it was something to do with the fluid. I had the trans fluid changed and it fixed it for a month or so... however they only changed about 2 qts of oil when the dropped the tran pan - the permanent solution was to have the trans FLUSHED with new fluid. I don't know if the more severe slipping could be fixed by changing the fluid.
 
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