have 92 capri with auto trans. having problem with car intermittant shifting, as i go down road the tranny seems to disengage. if i stop car , kill engine & restart, the tranny will go again. car does this warm or cold. changed out trnny control unit with no improvement.any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like an electrical prob to me. Does it have electronic o/d? I imagine the fluid level is okay and looks and smells good. What exactly do you mean by disengage? Is it like it just goes into a neutral state or just top gear slip? What happens if you come to a stop without an engine restart and accelerate? How about shifting manually, 2nd gear starts, and is reverse affected by this? Sorry so many ?'s but need the all the info possible.

 

yes, has electronic o/d.fluid level good and not burned. acts like it goes into neutral state. stop car and accelerate without restart and engine just revs up. doesn't manually shift either at that time.i don't mind questions as i am in maintenance and the more info the easier to troubleshoot. does the trans have any linkage adjustments that may have slipped as son went off road in snow storm. looke at car afterward and could find no damage other than dent in skid plate

 

Yes, there should be a gear select lever that's linked to the gear shift. if it's half out then it could cause slippage like that. if it has the electronic OD, there should also be a wire harness plugged into the trans above the pan bolts (don't remember which side). Might need to check that the harness is still engaged well too and that the wires are not damaged. If you shift the car down into 2 or 1 after the problem starts, will it move again?

 

if shifted to low after problem starts then there is no change until car isshut off and restarted.

 

yeah... that sounds like an electronics issue... it could just be a sensor in the trans that needs to be replaced, but I'm not up to speed on the newer computer controlled transmissions. Do check the wires going to the trans though (if you can... they can be a bugger to see much less get to). make sure the harness is secure. Definitely sounds like an electrical problem (either unhappy wires, sensors, or ECM).

 

is there a way to get the trouble codes without special code reader?

 

Possibly. I used to have a 1986 Chevy Camaro and a friend showed me how to jump the A an B terminals on the ECU recepticle and count how many times it blinked. I know that it doesn't work on Ford's but there might be a similar trick. But I have never heard of one.

 

or let a parts house like autozone read the codes for free. I think autozone will even do OBD-I vehicles. I'm pretty sure that the capri has the ECC-IV connectors on it (like most any ford newer than 1988 and maybe even further back than that... I know my 88 MGM has it) and those code readers are usually $20-$30

 

pulled the code by grounding sti wire and got code 06 wheel speed sensor. where might that sensor be located?