some help with a 1988 crown victoria

fuel isnt the problem. the engine is fine, its in the drive train. the problem started when the cable clip broke.
 
You don't want to get too fixated on what happened immediately before the problem first appeared and assume that caused the problem. A car is a very complicated machine and it often happens that several completely unrelated things go wrong with it at about the same time. Beginners are often very stubborn about denying that possibility -- "No, it can't be out of gas because the radio fuse blew right before the engine stalled -- so it's gotta be an electrical problem. No, I haven't looked at the gas gauge and I'm not going to -- I KNOW it's an electrical problem because a blown fuse doesn't have anything to do with how much gas is in the tank, you moron!" That can go on for hours....
 
we're pretty sure its a transmission problem. everything else works just fine. the torque converter is locked and needs unlocked but finding out how to do that is the problem.
 
Do you have the shop manual for that car? The manual costs less than having a mechanic look at it once....
 
he bought one but it doesnt help much. so far there isnt anything about unlocking the converter clutch. he did read about a solenoid or relay that engages the converter clutch but he hasnt read where they are located at. this will be something to look at in hopes of unlocking the clutch. maybe there is a reset button on one of them.
 
Sounds like the Lockup Torque Converter. My car did the same thing last year. Find out if the Transmission fluid was flushed in the last 2 years. Find out if at the same time he had the Transmission filter changed.... If it had a flush with out a filter change, gunk from the old filter could have gotten into the Lockup Torque Converter and messed things up. Thats exactly what happened to me and the shop that worked on it has seen that same thing a lot! My car would sometimes start in Neutral and sometimes it wouldn't.

Sometimes I could unstick it by starting in Neutral, reving the engine and while it was reved put it into drive, if I got the engine speed just right it would lerch forward and start moving. After that it would normally drive fine for a little while.. If it is taking to a shop, it needs to be a transmission shop. Most shops (at least around here) will send it to the Transmission places cause they don't want to work on them. LOL!! At least that was my experience.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes.

Heber
 
the fluid had a slight smoke smell but looked clean. his dad decided to change the fluid and it was dirty. he's going to let it drain overnight before filling it back up. does anyone else have an 88 ford. we need to know of the shift lever can move without the brake being depressed because this one does. i dont think he's going to mess with it much longer before taking it to a shop even though it will be expensive probably. thanks for the help guys. i'll keep you informed and post the fix when its known just in case someone else has the same problem
 
updated just a few minutes ago. draining the fluid helped. it started and ran for 15 seconds in park which it never did before. something must have been stuck due to the dirty fluid. i'll update everyone more tomorrow when he gets fluid back in it.
 
if it runs in neutral, & park, and the converter is "locked" how is that possible? wouldnt it be locked in all gears?

i have never heard of a locked torque converter before.
 
I don't think the clutch that he's talking about is in the torque converter.I was reading a little about automatics in a Motors repair manual the other night and it looks,according to that anyway,that the clutches are in the transmission.I just don't have the right manual for a 1988 car though.
 
richard j said:
updated just a few minutes ago. draining the fluid helped. it started and ran for 15 seconds in park which it never did before. something must have been stuck due to the dirty fluid. i'll update everyone more tomorrow when he gets fluid back in it.
Click to expand...

He didn't start it and run it without trans fluid,did he?I hope not that'll do more damage in a few seconds than what he's got now.I heard awhile back about someone starting their engine after draining the engine oil to get the last little bit out before putting in clean oil.Needless to say,he ended up putting a new engine in instead.
 
i dont think he let it run long enough to do any damage. i think he just let it start then shut it off once it did which i dont think will hurt since it wasnt enough to heat anything up. we'll know more when he puts a filter and fluid back in which should be later this afternoon. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that its fixed after this. its been a learning experience for sure and maybe this info will help someone else later on down the line. thanks guys.
 
the car is about ready to go. the tranny fluid was changed and in a little while it should be ready to go for a drive. i'll post an update later when i know more.
 
He changed the filter didn't he? If the problem is the fluid isn't moving around, keeping the old filter will cause the problem to come back. Thinking back to a friends 1979 Crown Vic, the tranny fluid was never changed and the car had over 150,000 miles on it. It wouldn't shift, had problems starting in anything besides neutral and also made a humming sound. After a flush and filter change the tranny worked fine.

Always change the filter with the fluid.

Heber
 
new fluid and filter didnt help. a friend of his suggested driving it around to see if the new fluid would loosen up whatever was stuck but it didnt. while sitting in front of the garage with the car in neutral he revved the engine and it moved forward. there is something keeping the clutch engaged or keeping it from downshifting out of overdrive. it still wont run in reverse or 1st gear. after my friend read several chapters in the book he hasnt found much info of any help.
 
it was never changed. the whole problem started when the clip broke. after taking it for a drive yesterday there is no doubt the problem is with the transmission and or torque converter. its like the transmisson never shifted out of overdrive or high gear after the cable clip broke.
 
Is the cable for the overdrive seperate from the the shifter linkage?What I'm wondering is if the trans is still in overdrive.When he put the cable back on did he have to move the linkage where it hooks up to make it reach or not?That's the only other thing that I can think of that may have happened to cause this.It would be the same thing as when a shifter linkage on a manual trans gets worn or breaks and leaves the trans in 2 gears.About the repair manuals,I don't know of any that go into much detail about automatic transmissions,it would take a whole book because of the complexities.
 
the cable is seperate. there were directions on how to reinstall and set everything. the transmission had to be in neutral before the cable was locked into place by the locking tab on the clip. it drives fine at road speed but acts funny when stopped or going slow. it made some nasty sounds when i was driving behind him yesterday. at the first stop sign the transmission didnt sound good but once he got going a little faster it sounded ok. i'm going to give another mechanic friend of mine a call today and see if he can help figure this out or get the problem narrowed down a little more.
 
Is he sure that he has it set just like the directions said?It really sounds to me that that is where the problem is,I wish I had more info but I've never screwed with anything like that.I'd go back and make sure that he has everything set where it should be or try to figure out how it operates so you know for sure.
 
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