I was cruising at about 50mph in 4th gear about 15 minutes into my ride to work... Temp about 35f. Suddenly I felt what seemed like a shift, so I looked at the gear indicator on the dash and it was blank. About a second later after checking that I was still in SS mode, the indicator returned to 4th. Any ideas? Does the transmission switch to auto mode when too hot like Fords SS transmissions?

 

damn.

 

Happened again, trans just shifted into neural in SS during an automatic downshift from 4th to 3rd. I assume this was the case the first time. What would cause the trans to just drop out of gear its gear while just cruising? Clutch pack?

 

By the way, this happened shortly after I switched to using DW1.

 

looks like the tranny is on its way out, sporadic shifting, not much you can do. sorry. Whats the mileage on the tranny?

 

not sure, bought the car with 180k and it already had a blue bolt tranny. Funny thing is it happened while cruising the first time and while braking the second, it shifts fine under load at 3/4 throttle(i never floor it) and the only time its ever ever been a bit rough is from 1 to 2. No CEL or TCS light.

 

Well, I was just over the second dot on the trans dipstick. Drained half a quart today so we'll see what happens. Maybe I was overfilled and the trans was getting hot? Any trans experts..would an extra 1/2 quart cause issues?

 

My second tranny went out at 80KM/h in a shift from 3rd to 4th, and loosing 5th gear. It had no history of any erratic shifts or anything. The first one did, and I had a SportShift LED flicker (a quick flicker, noticable) once or twice going from 2>3 and 3>4.
I'm on my third, this one has a 5year warranty.

 

I can understand slipping in between gears, but what would cause it to come out of gear when I was in SS and cruising? I was in 4th for a few minutes, and didn't shift. I didn't even have another gear to shift into(99).

 

If my transmission dies I'm blaming it on this DW1 shit!

 

They fail many different ways. My second lost it's 5th gear and refused to go into reverse. Later in the evening, after it had cooled down from a 40min drive - it shifted into reverse, but felt incredibly unsafe as it began to randomly insert power to the axle.
It errored with the Maint. Req., Chk. Eng., ABS, yellow '!' triangle and red '!' parking brake, exactly 7.8seconds after the tranny realized its inability to use 5th gear. Most others fail by blinking the D5 light on the dash.

 

Yeah thats pretty much a Toasted tranny... Sorry dude.
I wouldnt blame the DW-1 tough..

My first went down while cruising too about 40, you now the TL likes to go into 4th gear while doing 40 then suddenly baammm it auto-downshifts into 2nd while doing 40! hahaha not so funny when I wasnt expecting it (Didnt know about the Tranny Issue) thats pretty much the reason I came to visit Acurazine for the first time! Funny thing mine went down AFTER I did a 3x3 with AMSOIL Syn ATF. hehehe

 

Drained .4 from the tranny and not a hiccup in 3+ months. Shifts great, must just be more sensitive then I thought. Be accurate with your fills guys!

 

you need to get the codes that were set. Trans is on it's way out.

 

I agree. Those problems don't occur because of too much fluid. They occur because there is damage.

Your trans may last you another 10k, but it also might only last 1k. I wouldn't rely on it to last too long though.

Definitely do a 1x3. That gear slip will cause shavings. Autos are not meant to slip.

 

Once on a road trip to Austin Tx about two years ago i was makeing a quick u turn and i punch the gas i saw the d5 flash once i was like oh s##t what is that cause i get real paranoid about the tranmissions. they can drive real smooth then bam outta no where.. that kinda sucks well i have to do my drain and fill in about 4k so imma head up to the dealership haha thats been pretty nice to me

 

I had same exact problem, few days later my transmission was DONE.

 

do you know what your VIN is? just out of curiosity

 

there were no codes. The car was fine until I sold it, overfilling was the issue, causing too much heat to build up. Everyone's quick to think their tranny is shot because it's notorious for failing, so they don't bother to solve the actual problem. Transmission was a newer 4-speed.

 

Hey Yeedatoy, apparently that was a '99 model you just sold.

It's good to know that you were not blaming the newer DW1 tranny fluid,
but by draining off the overfill did resolve your shifting issue on the '99 TL.

So, what are ya driving at the present time ?

 

This also has happen to me!
When I put the car into SS, 30 mins later it just went blank!
So what I did is turn off the car,then start it up again and it drives perfectly normal! Then another 30-45mins later it happen again...

Then the next day I change out the tranny fluid and my SS works perfectly!

So it was the fluid I needed to change out