My 99 Escort ZX2 with 90k and mobil 1 ATF has MAjor issues. It does not happen cold though. When warm I take off from a stop it like stumbles like jumps and then catches into gear- only does this at speeds less than 15mph or so. But sometimes it does not do it at all. and others it happens every time I take off. It does NOT come up on a code scanner. It does not happen when I have a transmission shop guy ride with me. it does not happen with my dad riding with me I took it to a ford house and the said it MIGHT!Q be a R.A.I.N.E. sensor but it might be a FAT waste of money.
Automatics suck!!! every one I had has issues GM,ford dodge they all suck
I managed to destroy every one I have ever driven but I put them in drive and go. I DO NOT DO SLAMS
PS I have never driven a TS that is on my next to kill list
What is wrong with my car

 

Get a car with a manual tranny.

 

Hmmm how have you destroyed every auto tranny you had? That is unusual. Most of the time the manual is pretty reliable, but then most autos are good for 100K more or less except for a few problem models.

Most autos are rated for higher tow weights because they are less prone to problems under heavy loads with unskilled drivers. The manufacturers try to save money in every way and warranty cost is one that shows they think autos are tougher than manuals with everyday Joeblow drivers.

I have destroyed a couple trannys and my wife has done it. All times except one, it was because we did not follow recommended fluid change intervals or let the fluid get too low during towing. Low fluid is awful easy to do since measuring it is often tricky.

Once was because of poor maintenance plus me liking to manually shift the tranny cause it sounded cool, yeah several hundred dollars(1970s) later worth of cool.

If you drive and mainatain as expected by the factory you should get somewhere around 100K or so( I drive I think relatively hard so a normal driver's mileage may vary). If you forget fluid changes or let it get low or drive like I did, then the tranny could go in a few thousand. One of life's expensive lessons, which unfortunately I keep having to repeat class on.

The one tranny that died with better than recommended maintenance had known model issues which shorter maintenance intervals may have prevented or at least given warning before it got too big.

A manual is pretty reliable except for clutch changes being routine maintenance. But they wear out too. I wore out a ricer tranny in 80K way back. My Taurus SHO cost me way more in clutch replacement than a good auto rebuild would have, but it was a PITA model.

Good Luck and evaluate your driving style and maintenance habits. When you blow too many trannys it usually isn't the tranny type at fault.

Jim Henderson

 

Jim,
It has M1 fliud that is full I changed it 13K ago.
What else could it be? is the M1 OK for my 99 Zx2?

PS I HATE auto's because they always go one gear the the next and back and forth then they crAP out. I have been NICE to my car however because I rely on it for work/ school I'm religous on maintmance incluiding trans

 

Its a Ford thing. I have know of maybe 30 transmissions go before there time and 25 where fords.

 

Right there with you. I've killed every automatic transmission I've owned, but cant kill a stick. Even with a oversized cooler if you work a auto hard it will turn into a deep fat fryer.

 

Hmm. Something is strange here. I have the following:

1963 Olds 98 with Hydramatic
1966 Olds Cutlass with Turbo Hydramatic
1977 Olds 98 with Turbo Hydramatic
1983 Ford F-150 with C6
1986 Ford E-150 with C6
1985 Olds Toronado with 4-speed Turbo Hydramatic.

NONE of these vehicles have failed, EVER with any tramsmission problems of any kind, other than the '85 Toronado, which had a dirty governor, which I fixed in about 45 minutes. All of these vehicles have had regular maintenance. All have red fluid, and have had new filters installed. All of these have over 150k on them.

Your transmission problems has got to have something to do with your driving habits, or, location. Do you live on a steep hill? Do you jump in the car, start it, and pop it into gear and go? You are an exception to the rule, I'm afraid. The majority of us drive AT's for 100k and have good service.

Hope that you can figure out whats up. I, for one, would like to know.

 

He said he had a 99' Ford. That is the problem. Ford has not made a decent transmission since the early 80s IMO. How do driving habits cause the need to replace the 11 Tauras' and Expolorers that were less than a few years old? Stay way from any front wheel drive ford especially. C-6 was King though!

 

If the M1 meets spec for your car it should work OK. But some of the later model Fords required Mercon V and even though some brands claim Mercon V compatibility, several members of this list have had less than satisfactory results. This seems to be the case for the one brand fits all, ie Mercon Mercon III/Mercon V/Dexron III fluids. I have used M1 in my truck for towing and I like it but cannot feel a difference in shifting. I worry more about heat break down when towing.

The tranny shop I use doesn't like syn fluids, they feel that the dino fluids work better(I'm not sure why) and are less likely to tempt you to go for long drain periods. They recommended this even though they know I do all my own maintnenace so they would not get that business from me.

I kind of dislike autos too since they often feel sloppy to me, like going up and down maybe 500RPM while on the freeway depending on your acceleration. That is the lockup converter locking and unlocking and is very different from shifting. They also sometimes shift when you least expect it.

When an automatic tranny hunts gears a lot, say changing gears more than a few times a minute in relatively steady driving, then you need to manually down shift. When it is hunting gears it generates a fair amount of heat and wear. Maybe this is the cause of your tranny failures. When I tow, I usually stay in OD but when I am approaching a small hill I often will down shift to 3rd since I know my truck will start to hunt gears(3-4) on a hill. After I am off the hill I will shift back to OD. This is recommended in the manual and in various publications.

Even though you probably don't tow with your Zx, if it hunts gears, then down shift. This is what my relatively new Lincoln LS manual says, ie "drive in OD unless it changes gears too much, like in city driving, then downshift one gear".

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Jim,
It shift gears when I DON"T want it to. As fair as location yes I have a VERY steep gravel hill that I go up and I travel on the gravel road less than 10mph to keep my suspention good. I start my car and then I go back inside and brush my teeth and hair and put my shoes on (usually) about 5 minutes I ALWAYS let it idel atleast 2 minutes before puting into gear