Tranny broken at 5941 miles on odo!

[Alan]

Well...stepped out of the office today, cranked her up, put in reverse...and nothing! Reverse? Gone. A couple of guys pushed me out of my parking spot, put it in neutral for a few seconds, shift back to reverse...gone. Okay. Called dealership and they said bring it in. No problem!

Put it in drive, push Go pedal...hardly any reaction. Eased up on pedal, coasted, pushed Go pedal again...okay...we're moving. CLUNK! High revs....then...BAM! out of first and into second HARD. Okay...car's not shifting out of second, other cars passing me honking...push Go pedal more...CLUNK! BAM! hard shift into third...etc, etc. Is that the trans in my rearview mirror!?! Feels like it should be....

Slow down for the first stoplight...won't downshift at first then BAM! downshift....BAM! downshift again...came to stop. Process started all over again when the light turned green.

By the time I got to the dealership, about 6 miles away, car was shifting okay...but not normal. Still shifting a little hard, but at least somewhat shifting through the gears. I let the car sit for a second before turning it off...tried putting it into reverse. Lo and behold...it actually worked. I didn't press my luck.

Long story short (too late)...my baby is at the dealership and I'm in a Ford Taurus rental car!

[SergntMac]

Sorry to hear of your disappointing experience, Alan, however, you're in good hands here. There is enough tranny 411 on tap that we need to follow the Dewey decimal system to track it.

Reading all your symptoms and presuming that your tranny fluid is up to snuff, a "no reverse" situation usually indicates that your tranny shift cable has loosened out of spec. This will require an adjustment of the shift cable where it meets the shift lever under the console. Maybe 50 of us here have had this problem, and it's been repaired without a problem. Let us know? Feedback is good for the library...

[CRUZTAKER]

Marauder acting like a longhorn steer ya say....

Sounds fixable, I was thinking cable as well. Still however, I feel bad about the embarassment of humping it to the dealer. :down:

[SergntMac]

Still however, feel bad about the embarassment of humping it to the dealer.
You need some "sensitivity" counseling my friend.

OTOH, maybe not. I've driven a few "longhorns" to dealers, only to be glad I got there.

Barry...You confuse me, but you amuse me too.

Keep it up, eh?

[89VERT]

I hope that your transmission only needs a minor repair,as it brings up bad memories of the ATX in my SHO .

I replaced the trans under warranty at 25,000 miles.

Paid to have it done at 60.000 and 80,000 !

I trust that I won't have a wallet-draining experience like that with my MM!
If I do I'll be too broke to pay attention.lol

[Alan]

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on this. All I know is that it DIDN'T sound very good and felt even worse driving it to the dealership.

Mac...sure hope you're right about the cable idea. The fluids were all okay. I usually check my fluids once each weekend and write it down in a little notepad I keep in the vehicle.

[2003 MIB]

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on this. All I know is that it DIDN'T sound very good and felt even worse driving it to the dealership.

Mac...sure hope you're right about the cable idea. The fluids were all okay. I usually check my fluids once each weekend and write it down in a little notepad I keep in the vehicle.
Scary!- Who's your dealer Alan?- I don't remember which part of the republic you call home...

[CRUZTAKER]

Still however, I feel bad about the embarassment of humping it to the dealer. :down:OOPS!
I had to go back and edit that. Funny how an entire sentence changes when one leaves out one stinking letter!!!:depress:

I left the ( I ) out from the beginning of ....feel bad about the embarassment

Very sorry Alan, I had been drunking last night. :P

[woaface]

We had a transmission go in a sable 5 or 6 years ago at 80 or 90 thousand miles. It wasn't as mean to us...just stopped shifting once or twice...and then didn't go. We got stuck and had it towed...LUCKILY we were in the neighborhood when it happened.Sorry to hear it happened man:cry:

[LincMercLover]

...I feel bad about the embarassment of humping it to the dealer.
Huh huh... He said hump... :rasta:

[woaface]

Lol...there's some other odd looking stuff but I won't mention it!

My neighbor's muffler from the cat's back fell off two days ago and jacked the whole truck (a bronco) in the air...he was like "Man, it sounded like a race car! But my wife went and put a Midas on it...it sucks"

[TripleTransAm]

You know, there's that whole one-dimensional thing again... only after reading Barry's "apology" did I understand Sarge's reply. It seems I understood what Barry was implying the first time around, with the missing 'I' and never realized it could be taken the wrong way. Incredible how fragile communication through this kind of medium can get. (I just noticed I left out the word "It's" at the beginning of the previous sentence... I never would have thought to check that out before reading this thread! Some things you just take for granted...)

So how many rep points did you lose on this one, Barry? :lol:

[Ross]

That's bad news, Alan. I hope it's just a linkage adjustment like Sarge suggests. I'd hate to think that a lot of our trannies are self destructing beneath us. You haven't been using it for too many high speed chases, have you? Let us know how it comes out.

[Alan]

I'm north of Houston by about 30 miles. In the 'burbs!
My dealer is Northwood L/M and they couldn't be a better bunch of people. The service manager took care of me. Rick...if you read this board...you are the MAN!

Still haven't heard anything from them.....


Scary!- Who's your dealer Alan?- I don't remember which part of the republic you call home...

[Alan]

Dude...no worries! I knew what you meant!
:beer:


OOPS!
I had to go back and edit that. Funny how an entire sentence changes when one leaves out one stinking letter!!!:depress:

I left the ( I ) out from the beginning of ....feel bad about the embarassment

Very sorry Alan, I had been drunking last night. :P

[Alan]

Hey Ross! Good to hear from you!
Ha-ha! You know...I would LOVE to use the MM as my patrol vehicle, but I baby that thing too much. I'll admit that I have had to WOT my girl a few times needing to get in and around the freeway system here in Houston, but I'm VERY easy on her. I've only got 5400 miles on her, so I'm still a little bit hesitant to do too much too soon.


That's bad news, Alan. I hope it's just a linkage adjustment like Sarge suggests. I'd hate to think that a lot of our trannies are self destructing beneath us. You haven't been using it for too many high speed chases, have you? Let us know how it comes out.

[Alan]

Well...I called the dealership for an update after not hearing anything for the past couple of days. They said they are having to do a total rebuild on my trans. Said it MIGHT be ready by Monday. I just laughed and told the service manager to tell his guys to take their time. No big deal. I was hoping they'd put a new '04 trans in! Oh well...

I hope to get a detailed run-down of exactly what happened on Monday. He didn't give any specifics on the phone. I wasn't going to keep him on the phone. I'll update again later.

[SergntMac]

I hope to get a detailed run-down of exactly what happened on Monday. He didn't give any specifics on the phone. I wasn't going to keep him on the phone. I'll update again later.
Thank you, Alan. Sorry to hear it's serious after all. Grab a copy of the parts list for us if you can? Knowing the symptoms and the failed parts will help the library. Hope you're up and running soon.

[Alan]

Mac,

I will definitely post the results. I'm not to worried about the rebuild. Maybe some of the other members more closely involved with MMs and service departments in L/M dealerships will be able to say what might be involved in the rebuild process.

Will they rebuild with '03 tranny components?
Will they rebuild with the better '04 tranny components?
Is there an internal bulletin or public recall on this problem?

I know others have mentioned the trans problem, but not really sure how many MMs were effected. Anyone have their transmissions rebuilt? How did it fare?