Ding dong the Sable's dead!
 

Yep it finally happened.. My 97 LS with the 3.0 DOHC and AX4N finally broke bad enough that I'm parting ways... 141,000 miles..

Went on a 1800 mile trip with it.. For the first time in years the car worked absolutley flawless.. Averaged darn near 30mpg the whole trip and minimal oil consumption to boot... I was about 5 miles from home.. Stopped at a redlight, light turns green and the car doesn;t move and inch.. Not in any range but it does hold in park so the axles, shift linkage, and some of the internals of the trans are in tact... Fluid is full, and looks decent.. It was last changed at 125,000 using Mercon V (yeah I know there's debate about using Mercon V on older transmissions) I have been Merc V since 50,000 miles... Fluid has been changed every 25,000.. My guess would be a failed forward clutch piston, or torque converter...

A bit of history.. Trans worked great till about 100,000.. It developed a shudder at about 45 on a slight pull.. Did a full tuneup and serviced the trans and it was still there.. I suspected teh TCC and just decided to run it till it died.. Then all of a sudden at about 120,000 it went away, never to return..

But now it just simply moves no more, no funky noises or nothing.. I decided to cut my losses and part ways.. I'll probably stick it on Craigslist in the next few days for a few hundred bucks.. To add insult to injury however, my ever faithful 79 Continental that I use as a tow vehicle of all things also decided it was done.. After 318,000 near trouble free miles she started knocking as I was towing the Sable home.. I would be inclined to actually rebuild the engine in the Lincoln but the rust factor has me deciding to put her to rest as well.... It's been a bittersweet few days...

Now I believe there is a gentleman I need to contact about a 91 Crown Vic....