My 93 Sable stopped shifting into overdrive unless I'm going down a hill or coasting. The minute I put my foot back on the gas it downshifts to drive. The car has a 3.8 liter engine and runs great otherwise. Cost me about 3 mpg. Code 648 is the only code left. I fixed the 565 which was a bad wire to the canister purge solonoid. (Hoped by some vacuum miracle it would fix the shift).
What does the poor shifting mean. Shifts good otherwise.
Well, a 648 code is 4th gear failure in the service manual. You need to have a transmission shop put a tester on it and see if they can shift it manually. Try to find a couple that might give you a free diagnosis before you make a decision.
BOB
This model year transmission had a lot of trouble with the speedometer drive and governor gears in the transaxle. I have fixed several of these transmissions with similar problems, and it was always the governor. Ford had a lot of Technical service bulletins on it.
Could you give me an idea of cost for speedo drive or governor gears? I advertised the car for $2500 and got no hits so I'm nervous about letting the dealer look at it.
If I remember correctly, I spent about $150 for governor, forget what speedo cost. It's a real pain to access, you can do it from below, but need a lift or a jack with a lot of lift.
I took it to a Ford Garage. $100 later they say it has a burned out overdrive band. Will have to remove the transmission, split it and replace the band, maybe more since pieces are probably in the oil. Estimated anywhere from $700 to over $1500. I'm going to try to sell or trade it.
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