Silly Transmission

[ShopratLes]

Hi, new member. I recently purchased a 1987 Ford Crown Victoria 2 door sedan with 42500 miles. Very clean car. Flushed all the fluids and it drives very well so far. However, there seems to be something up with the trans. It moves in reverse fine and the forward gears work well up to about 40 mph. Once it gets to 40 or so it "shifts" into neutral and stays there until about 25-30 and goes into second gear and accelerates again. Any suggestions? All the linkages look like they are connected. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Country John]

You have a problem with spark plug firing/computer timing. The computer times the shifts taking cues from the computer/rpm/firing/distributor. I had exactly the same problem with mine.

[bigdaddydoug]

I think your idea that it's the trans is correct. Based on experience with my 1991 model (302 engine & 4 speed auto, probably same as yours) which also had low mileage at the time, the trans needs rebuilding. Find a good shop that can upgrade the trans instead of just putting it back to original. I had this done about 6 years ago and it's still strong - better than new - with about 150,000 on it.

I also changed the exhaust to duals when the original "Y" pipe rusted out. Car now runs slightly faster and quieter especially during high speed (50-80+) passing.