My 2007 Escape is doing something odd and was wondering if anyone has had this issue or maybe can point me in the direction to possibly fix it. I have a fair amount of automotive knowledge just not a lot of hands on experience with auto transmissions other than just straight swapping it, however, I do know most of the components and not afraid to tear it down myself, gotta learn sometime, and yes I have a spare vehicle to drive. The issue is on cold start up, letting it idle for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, at temps below -5*C (23*F) the transmission takes about 3-5 seconds to go into gear, reverse or forward, and then will randomly come out of gear like it's been shifted to neutral, and if left to idle for a few seconds it will go back into gear. Forward shudders when it does engage when cold. Not sure how it shifts into other forward gears when cold as I have not tried that to try and avoid further damage. If i let it idle for 10-15 minutes it shifts into all gears perfect all the way to 110km/h. I did buy the truck with a bad TC, it drove and shifted fine when cold but once warm it stalled when shifted from P-R or to D and if it was moving and came to a stop it would also stall. I had another 07 Escape donor with a rust in a spot that I couldn't be bothered to repair but mint 160,000KM drivetrain had zero issues with it for 10,000km before I found the rust. The donor was a 2wd and the replacement escape is 4wd. I used the TC from the 2wd, installed it into the 4wd and the stalling issue was gone, yes I did 100% of the work myself. I've read it could be seals in the transmission? Would those be in the valve body? I have the transmission out of the 2wd which had no issues so if I can use any parts off that I will I just don't know what is interchangeable and dont want to rip a perfectly good trans apart if it isnt even going to fix the issue. I'm almost positive the answer is a no, but I was wondering if there is any way possible to make the 2wd trans work with the 4wd system. Does anyone know if there is a difference in the internals or is it just the case for the mounting point of the PTO that is different?

Sorry for such a long post but wanted to give as much information as I could. Thank you everyone in advance!

 

From what I understand, the 4WD transfer case is a totally bolt-on option. You can remove the rear driveshaft and use the 2WD letting the rear differential freewheel if desired.
The problem described may be the 'morning sickness' that transmissions get when their seals harden. Hard seals allow fluid to bypass, and the clutches won't apply or the bands may allow slippage. The cure is replacing the seals in the servos and clutch packs.
tom

 

Thank you for the reply. I would like to keep the 4wd as my sister drives it and we live in Canada, the seals you mentioned, do you know if they are in the valve body or internal to the transmission?