I''ve had this car for a while and have replaced the shift angle sensor and had the trany flushed about a year ago. Yesterday the transmission service indicator showed up under the odometer and it slipped and (says my daughter) refused to shift into O/D. The fluid level is fine and it has not required any since the flush. Can anyone tell me what the possible causes of this may be and/or what the light may indicate? Just want to know what I''m up against before scheduling a repair.


Jim Taylor
Downeast in NCEdited by: lowrevs

overdrive solenoid (or whatever they call that kicker now) may have died. I know the one in my MGM is going to die, but I''ll let it then fix it. also, if the transmission was flushed, was the filter changed at the same time? if not, crap from the filter may have been dislodged by the flush and gunked up the overdrive stuff. My rule of thumb (garnered from a few mechanics and friends I''ve known over the years) is that if you''re gonna flush it, do a full fluid and filter change to avoid releasing the filter''s crud back into the new fluid.

Had a similar problem for my daughters ''99 Cougar automatic.Transaxle would overheat if driven more than 30 miles or so, and the code indicated the trans would not ''lockup''. I bought a freshly re-manned valve body and that solved the problem. Perhaps overkill, but the car has 140,000 on it & a fresh assembly is cheap insurance against future issues.


Stop at an AutoZone or similar part store that offers free check engine light code readings. Write down any/all codes and research those codes on the internet. I suspect you have an OD lockup failure code.