172,000 miles. Never a problem. Had fluid changed (not the pump way, by taking the pan off and draining it) Worked for about 10 miles. Next day when I started it up everything worked fine until I stopped at a light. It stalled. Everytime I put it in gear, it also stalled. If I Can get it past 1000 RPM's the trans works perfectly. Just applying the brakes or getting it to start out is the problem. Suggested Valve body clogged to dealer. Got a call back from the dealer today, and they said the converter is froze. They suggested a new trans. There was some sort of note on this trans with the spring in the valve body breaking. My uncle was a Ford trans man for his whole career, and he also suggests this. He age prevents him from working now, but it seems the dealer is interested in only putting a new trans in, instead of a simple trouble shooting of the valve body. Easy to say at 172,000 miles, Right? Again... the Trans works perfectly once I get it running past 10 mles a hour. It reminds of a manual trans that you come up to a light and don't put the clutch in. It hops and stalls. The car seems to stall under 750 rpms. Something to do with the Neutral gear in Trans? What can I suggest to the dealer to troubleshoot? Seems they just want the big job to me.

 

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Sounds like classic symptoms of the torque converter clutch sticking. Trouble in the valve body is certainly a good place to start.
Did the shop indicate that it was a problem with the torque converter or the valve body? Or haven't they determined which, they just know it's something with the TCC? The trouble with taking a problem like this to a transmission shop is they don't want to take it apart without rebuilding it -- too much risk for "call backs" and stuff like that.
A cheap fix for this I used on a Chevy car I had was to cut the wire to the the TCC override solenoid. The torque converter clutch never locked up, so it couldn't get stuck.
When you dropped the pan, how dirty was the fluid? IMO, if you are capable of dropping the pan, it's not that much more work to take the valve body off and clean it up. If you feel like trying it, get a good transmission manual (not a DIY manual - professional edition) and see what you think. There are also a couple of threads at www.ford-trucks.com that talk in some detail about transmission/valve body work (Search for "valve body rebuild diary" and "A4LD rebuild diary") It's not difficult, you just have to be careful to put the bolts in the right holes (there are three different sizes of bolts) and be careful not to lose the springs, *****, and "hockey pucks" while removing and dissassembling the valve body.

 

Think mrshorty is right on it. TCC sounds like it is stuck in lock-up mode. You can try a test to see if it is electrical or mechanical. Disconnect the wiring harness with the TCC lockup and 3-4 shift leads where it goes into transmission. This will eleminate computer(electrical) as the source if it solves the problem. Keep in mind, you may have pinched one of these leads to the solenoids, inside the trans when you did the fluid/filter change and it took a while to work thru the insulation.
Dialtone

 

OK I talked to my uncle. The question was asked to the service writer when he called my uncle to tell him the problem... My Uncle Asked Him, "Did you check out the valve body?" Service Writers answer... The converter is locked up and the trans needs overhaul. So my uncle didn't feel in his experience that they even checked the valve body. In My uncles opinion, "There is no way a mechanic can tell if its the converter is locked up without checking converter charge valve & Spring. When I took the car in we distinctively told them that they check the valve body first, if there was no problem with that then we need the car so we would do whatever they suggested. I knew the converter was locked when I took it in, and we knew that it could be the valve body (theres a TSB on the valve body for that car). If it turned out that the valve body and the spring were alright, we would go further and get the trans fixed. Again my uncle has been in this business all his life, and his cousin (Whom we got what we feel is the problem info) too, both trans men, both retired so they really can't do this heavy work anymore. The cousin actually was a trans man at Ford World Headquarters Garage for executive cars here in Dearborn. Wednesday I'm going back to the dealership in the morning... and see if my car is still sitting in the same spot, or if its still on the hoist/stall. It was diagnosed? today?... It will be interesting what the story is tomorrow. None of us believe the valve body was even checked.

 

Can anyone post link to the "Valve Body Rebuild Diary" from above post. I found the A4ld rebuild diary but the the other one. Thanks.