I could really use some help folks.
Two months ago I was driving my 2005 Ford Focus LX with an automatic transmission. I made a u-turn and all of a sudden I was just coasting along. It was as if someone disconnected the transmission. There was still power and a screeching sound, but the car was going nowhere.
I had it towed to my mechanic. He said that the transmission was bad, and that the axles had "frozen". Whatever that means. Anyway, I couldn't afford to replace the transmission so it took me a month to pay the mechanic and finally pick up the car. He told me that the transmission was replaced, but that the axles still needed to be changed.
I drove the car away and two days later it kinda did the same thing as before. Except that this time the car would power stutter (like it was being shut off) and the engine would power down. Then you would see smoke coming out of the hood. I had the car towed back to the mechanic. he said I had lost third gear, and it was probably due to my bad axles.
One week later I got the car back. I didn't have money to replace the axles yet. So I drove the car for two weeks without problems. Now it seems as if it's starting to do what it did before when I got it back the second time. It kinda loses power around the lower speeds as if it's stuck trying to shift between second and third.
It's slight right now. It doesn't do it all the time. I don't have 400 bucks right now to replace the axles. I just spent about 2,000 to fix the transmission. Is it true that the bad axles may be breaking the transmission? Because my mechanic gave me a warranty on the tranny, but I think because I haven't fixed the axles he blames anything transmission related on me.