My brother in law has a 2002 Escape (dont know engine or trans) and he was told his trans is shot. Now I know they never had it serviced (High milage, most of it highway). But I am kinda in doubt that the trans is totally shot. How the determination came about was he was having problems starting it a while ago. The garage (STS Tire service is his garage) and they put a new battery in it. It fixed the issue for a few weeks. Two weeks ago the problem comes back. He goes back to STS and they perform almost $1400 worth of work on it. Still not fixed. The good news is they dont charge him since they didnt fix it. But one of the guys calls a buddy from a Ford dealership to stop by and check it out cause STS has no clue what the code is. (DUH) Well this Ford guy tell them the trans is shot??? Now they want $2000 just for a used trans ( I told him I wouldnt do it) or over $3000 for a new or rebuilt one (getting tech info from my BIL is never a pleasant experience)

My thinking is if it is having issues starting, it sounds like a solenoid has gone bad in the trans and could be replaced. Or maybe its something else electrical with the trans. What do you guys think?

 

From your description, it likely would be of no use to offer the advice that he try a different service provider, but I'll suggest it anyway. The only thing the starter has to do with a transmission is the interlock switch so it won't start in gear, and a mounting point on the bell housing.

A bad solenoid can cause problems, obviously, but you have given no symptoms other than "he was having problems starting it a while ago." and the transmission has been diagnosed as "shot". Not enough details to form a concise opinion of the trouble cause.

If the problem is indeed trouble getting the engine to start, I would find that problem before condemning the transmission. I think it would take a significantly damaged transmission to prevent the starter from turning the engine over and starting. There are several solenoids in the transmission. If the torque converter clutch solenoid were to stay energized, it could make the engine very hard to start and keep running because the converter would be 'locked' to the input of the transmission, rather than allowing the engine to run, while the input shaft remains stationary. I would think there would be other symptoms for inoperative transmission solenoids.
tom

 

It does want to start (turn over) it just doesnt want to catch. Like I had said, STS had done numerous things (What, I dont know, cause my BIL has no clue about vehicles) and now this Ford guy is telling him the trans is shot. I made the suggestion already to find a new service provider ( I actually made that a while ago, you dont go to a tire center for anything else except tires in my opinion)

 

I would see if fuel pump is working.

 

Well, any news? After STS ate a $1400 mis-diagnosis, do they want to do more? Or have you convinced your BIL to take it elsewhere. We don't have enough info to diagnose a 'no-start' yet. Obviously, you need air, fuel and spark. Check for presence or absence of any and all.
tom

 

Well I am sad to say that my ******* BIL is having STS put a junkyard transmission in it for $1400. I told him to take it to a real trans shop and he says he called one and they said it could be anywhere from a cpl hundred to almost $3000. Basically what I told him, they have to look at it to diagnose the problem to give a better estimate. But no, he chose to have STS put in a junkyard trans (no idea what milage it has, how it was driven, if it is out of a wreck or out of a blown engine donor) with no warranty. I basically told him good luck and walked away before I started laughing.
Now I am not against junkyard transmissions, I have pulled quite a few out, but have had someone with knowledge of them look them over (and they were not electronic either) but my issue is with it being electroninc you never know what you might get out of a junkyard. I asked a trans shop I deal with what it would cost to rebuild it and they said approx $2000 to $3000 with a 3 yr 36000 mile warranty that is coast to coast.

 

He should have shopped craigslist. One was listed at $700, I think, the other day. I would have gone to Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market and looked. Of course the market is the local market, not yours. A boneyard transmission should come with some warranty. Especially when it is the ENGINE that is not starting. Were there transmission symptoms before? Only thing I can think of is a locked up torque converter unless the hard parts are trashed, but there would have been something indicating there was a problem.
tom

 

First I would try (make sure the new battery is fully charged) putting jumper cables to the truck for even more power. But very important - Try hooking the negative from the jumpers to the engine itself in case the ground wires to the engine have lost contact or broken and all you have left is a small ground wire left. If it cranks faster try putting new large gauge wire from battery to engine for ground.

The 02 I have is a V6 and the starter is right on top under the air cleaner. I had mine get dirty and was not moving smooth when engaged. Took it off and cleaned and lubed it and it worked much better. You can lube and then try it with jumper cables out of car.

You did not say if any trans codes showed up on computer but as you mention a tire place may not even have a machine that can read many of the codes the newer vehicles show. But just to get it started you could un plug the trans plugs and see if it changes anything for starting speed. The system may not start with certain plugs pulled and you will get codes if it does start but try one plug at a time and see what you get. If one keeps it from turning over you will have no choice but to leave that one connected.

I will suggest one more thing that has happened to me on two Ford engines that I hope is not your issue but you never know. If it was getting harder to start (slower) and it is not the ground I mentioned before, you may be getting water in the cylinders and it is getting hydro locked. Pull the spark plugs (on V6 you have to remove upper intake) and try cranking with no plugs and if it zips right along and blows water (coolant) out you have head gasket gone. Hate to bring this one up but have had two Ford motors (3.0 Taurus & 3.8 Windstar) both do this. Slow spin - almost starts - gets worse - blown gasket.