AX4N troubles, Torque Converter?

[Steve-S]

I have a 98 Taurus with the AX4N transmission. It will not go anywhere in any gear. When I put it into gear I do not feel the gears engage. Based on some reading I thought it was the Pump Shaft. I bought a used pump/valve body with shaft from a local transmission parts shop and installed them. Still no joy but now I have a weird rattling sound from time to time in the transmission area. Talking to a local shop he said that perhaps the torque converter had stripped. Any ideas on how much work that would be? Is that a shade-tree job? My funds are limited so I'm not real sure I can afford to take it into a shop.

I also recently ordered online an AX4N Factory manual. Turns out it's a 94 manual. Stupid question is: will this be good enough for a 98 AX4N? From what I've heard since buying it the answer would be 'no' but I wanted to ask the experts. If it's not usable for me do any of y'all need one?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Steve

[mpeoples]

Torque convertor replacement requires removing the transmission. This something you can do, but you'd better allow a whole day to do it, and have a friend help. Get a manual that will show you how to remove the transmission. The key hassle is that the transmission has to come out from the bottom, which requires you to support the engine from above.

If you replaced the valve body, you are more than capable of replacing the torque convertor.

That said, anything that is "stripped" probably sent metal into the transmission. You really should break down the transmission, clean it, replace seals, gaskets, clutches, etc. You will need an ATSG manual or factory manual on the transmission to do this. A rebuild kit and torque convertor are probably going to run you $ 250 to $ 300, but it's well worth the cost.

If you have a manual, and good workspace, you'll find the rebuild to be pretty straight-forward.