Help!! 97 Taurus GL dies in DRIVE or REVERSE

[maestro300]

My car is left at my parking garage at work as I am out of simple options... here is what happened.

Backed out of my parking spot and was slightly rolling backwards and went into drive... then the car died.

1. Restarted, shifted into DRIVE and died instantly.
2. Restarted, shifted into REVERSE and died instantly.
3. Restarted, gave gas to 1700RPM's and shifted into DRIVE car lunged forward and I drove towards the exit...seemed to be fine. Hit the brake to slow down... shuttered and died again.

I did try the "powerbrake" method... held the gas pedal in slightly with it in gear and it still died... doesn't that eliminate it being a idle control sensor?

So it will drive only if the car is already moving... if I slow down (ie to stop) the car dies. Restarted and tried both DRIVE and REVERSE again and instantly died. Anybody have an idea?

[dataflake]

Just a guess... check the O2 Sensor.

[G O R T]

It sounds likely that the lock-up portion of the torque converter is bad. This is not unheard of by any means and requires converter replacement. Still, you may want to try tracing down the lock-up signal in case there is a short causing it.

[ABE]

Following GORT's idea of a short in the lockup circuit, look for the torque converter lockup connector to the transmission above the bell housing on the squared portion, about the middle and near the engine to transmission bolt up area. The connector is plugged in there. About 9 wires for 3 transmission solenoids, oil temp, etc, and the torque converter lockup. The power supply (in start and run) from the junction box is red (2 wires for 5 switches) and the apparent ground wire is violet and yellow and goes directly to the PCM, with no apparent connections. The wire may be grounding somewhere.

Hope this helps.

[maestro300]

Originally Posted by ABE

Following GORT's idea of a short in the lockup circuit, look for the torque converter lockup connector to the transmission above the bell housing on the squared portion, about the middle and near the engine to transmission bolt up area. The connector is plugged in there. About 9 wires for 3 transmission solenoids, oil temp, etc, and the torque converter lockup. The power supply (in start and run) from the junction box is red (2 wires for 5 switches) and the apparent ground wire is violet and yellow and goes directly to the PCM, with no apparent connections. The wire may be grounding somewhere.

Hope this helps.

I really appreciate everyones help! Here is the strange thing... so I took it out of the parking garage... had to bring RPM's up and literally launch the car so it wouldn't die. Had to pull over about 1/2 mile later at a Walmart because it would shift into 2nd... feel like it was slipping.. then slam back into 2nd with a thud. Then when driving slow (20-30mph) it felt like it was in 3rd because the RPM's were so low and sluggish that even pushing the gas in wouldn't downshift. (Now I didn't try manually shifting to 1 or 2)

Now I did remove the neg terminal from the battery for 5 or so minutes... do these transmissions "learn" and possibly why it was shifting so strange because....

I drove it home (about 20 minutes driving) and everything was working perfectly. So I got to the first light (rather than neutral coasting to stop) kept it in drive to see if it would die... and it didnt! Got home, shifted multiple times to drive and park and worked fine. Drove it for 50-60 miles yesterday and to work this morning and was perfect!

Again its the car that just keeps running... it has 184300 miles and two years ago wouldn't start... crank but no compression... I tested the first three cylinders and literally 3psi... no exhaust puff when I had my wife crank it. All accessories are turning... tried to start directly from starter... starter was fine. Then a week later... not knowing if it was interference engine I decided to just try it again... tried to start... sounded like whirr-whirr-whirr-tuh-tuh-tuh-whirr-tuh-tuh-- then all the sudden started! Been running fine since... almost like it jumped timing and jumped back again... odd Been a great car though!

[ABE]

Well thanks for the update. Glad your torque converter is not physically locked and it is an electronic issue.

[maestro300]

Well barely made it home... thought it was working fine. Pulled off on my exit and started shuttering at a stop light again. Pulled into a Walmart parking lot and transmission kept slipping in and out of first... tried to leave and no longer could move forward... just slipped.

Pulled into a parking lot... no drive no reverse.. just slipped. Waited with engine off for 10 minutes.... was able to back up finally but was really jerky... slipped then grabbed. I was able to limp it home and seemed to shift fine... then pulled into the subdivision and kept jumping out of first... then lurching forward.

Got it up the driveway and kept slipping again... jerked up like 3 times and finally got it next to the garage.

Anyways, any ideas? It slipped and wouldn't move an inch.. but then finally I was able to get it to drive home fine for 1.5 miles then started slipping in/out of gear again when I got home.

The trans fluid is full... though its brown. Would changing the fluid help out at all or do I just sound desperate now?

[ABE]

Sounds like the transmission is toast. The brown fluid is a sign of overheating and wear. Changing the fluid will likely make the symptoms worse since the brown fluid has more friction than new fluid.

Probably best to get a professional assessment by a transmission shop that you know do good work.

Sorry.

[jman_07]

The transmission is history the Taurus has one of the worst transmissions ever they slip and are very unreliable. Brown fluid means an overheated wore out tranny.

[Frankc67]

My guess is bad news. sounds like your torque converter is locked up. Thats in your transmission. I wor on cars and have had a few of these problems. hope it helps.