Taurus Trans Slip

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My daughter is away at school in RI and will be coming home this Columbus Day weekend. She has mentioned an infrequent problem with the 2008 Ford Taurus AWD that she uses for transportation to student teaching on a daily basis. She describes the problem as severe slipping. The engine will race and the car will barely move. Then it will catch and all seems well. It happens very infrequently, maybe once every month or two. There doesn't seem to be any correlation to temperature, car being on an angle, etc. Appears to be completely random. The problem has never occurred when I am driving it. I try to get her to tell me about any problems with the car right away, no matter how trivial, but she says this has been occurring for over a year. Again, it is very infrequent. I have driven the car for decently long trips (over 600 miles round trip) with no issues. All other transmission factors seem normal (smooth shifting, downshifts properly, etc.).

The Taurus has roughly 170,000 miles on it. I got it at 90,000 miles and have performed ATF drain and fills roughly every 20-30,000 miles. Not sure of the exact date of the last drain and fill since my maintenance log is in the car in RI. I am not sure if the trans has ever been serviced before we got the car.

According to what I have read, the filter for the Ford 6F50 transmission is not easily replaced. The trans must be somewhat taken apart just to get to it. Hoping to avoid this if possible.

I will likely do another set of two drain and fills this coming weekend when she comes home and was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions. I am generally not a believer in additives for fixing problems, but there may be some magical elixir that others been successful with. I'd love to hear about it. I am looking to avoid her call that tells me the car wont move and she is several hundred miles away. Also not looking to throw a bunch of money in the form a new/rebuilt transmission at a car with high mileage.

Thanks for any advice that you can provide.
 
How does one check the transmission fluid level on this vehicle? I am wondering if the fluid level is low, or restricted by that hard to get to filter. is it possible to raise the transmission oil pressure (like it was on older cars that used a cable?)
 
That probably takes the Mercon V. That's a pretty long life on a Ford transmission that you got at 90K miles. Not bad at all. If it were me, I'd also add 12 oz of Lubeguard (red?) on your last D&F. It can improve/restore some of the frictional qualities of the fluid, especially since you'll still have 30-50% old fluid in there after 2 D&F's.

Lubeguard

Catalog

I always figured Ford filters were in the trans pan, and that all of them were easy to drop. What year is the Taurus?
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
How does one check the transmission fluid level on this vehicle? I am wondering if the fluid level is low, or restricted by that hard to get to filter. is it possible to raise the transmission oil pressure (like it was on older cars that used a cable?)


It has a dipstick. There is no way to "raise" transmission pressure. It's electronically controlled.

Have her get the codes pulled. I'd be willing to bet there's something stored, even if the CEL didn't come on.
 
Originally Posted By: 14Accent
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
How does one check the transmission fluid level on this vehicle? I am wondering if the fluid level is low, or restricted by that hard to get to filter. is it possible to raise the transmission oil pressure (like it was on older cars that used a cable?)


It has a dipstick. There is no way to "raise" transmission pressure. It's electronically controlled.

Have her get the codes pulled. I'd be willing to bet there's something stored, even if the CEL didn't come on.


Do you pull the transmission codes in the same manner as engine codes? I have an Autel Maxiscan MS509 scanner that I can try when she gets home. If there is a code stored, how can I determine what it means?
 
Originally Posted By: 14Accent
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
How does one check the transmission fluid level on this vehicle? I am wondering if the fluid level is low, or restricted by that hard to get to filter. is it possible to raise the transmission oil pressure (like it was on older cars that used a cable?)


It has a dipstick. There is no way to "raise" transmission pressure. It's electronically controlled.


Supposedly there is a way to do that, electronically. Look it up. Not sure if that is applicable to all cars that use electronics to regulate transmission oil pressure.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
That probably takes the Mercon V. That's a pretty long life on a Ford transmission that you got at 90K miles. Not bad at all. If it were me, I'd also add 12 oz of Lubeguard (red?) on your last D&F. It can improve/restore some of the frictional qualities of the fluid, especially since you'll still have 30-50% old fluid in there after 2 D&F's.

Lubeguard

Catalog

I always figured Ford filters were in the trans pan, and that all of them were easy to drop. What year is the Taurus?


it does take Merc V. it's an 08 per the Op, with the 6F50(6 speed auto Co developed with GM, this is fords version, variants of it used in practically everything) you have to split the trans case open to access the filter.
 
Since it is electronically controlled, I suspect a solenoid is sticking, or not activating ... Most likely a bad wire connection somewhere ...

My first inclination is to add some new grounds to the system. The car is getting long in the tooth and has seen some winters. She prolly parks outside (?). Slush, rain, snow all eventually get to the ground contact points in the form of crevice corrosion which makes them semi-conductors at best...

#4 cable with crimped and soldered lugs. One from battery neg clamp bolt to engine block. One from another handy bolt on engine block to fire-wall. And in this case one from a tranny bolt to the chassis somewhere.

Maybe find the ECU and partially (carefully) pull the connector part way and reseat so all the pins have new metal contact.

I have found that new grounds cure all sorts of issues with ECU controlled systems. There is voltage on the applied side to move the current, But on the ground side it is just current and anything interfering will cause gremlins ...
 
You might want to try the LiquiMoly ATF Additive as well. I was having some intermittent slipping with my Sebring, after adding the ATF Additive to fresh ATF +4 fluid, the car has performed flawlessly for the last 6000 miles.
 
My first thought is low fluid or an electrical issue. Perhaps a bad ground etc. I would consider doing a drop and fill with Maxlife ATF and throw in a bottle of LGR
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Seems to be the most common problem with the 08 Taurus, transmission issues:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Taurus/2008/

Check out the tsbs, many involving what you're describing. Too bad it's not the FWD version with an Aisin trans in it. Maybe trade it for one of those if you can. They seem to be cheap.


you're confusing the 08-09 Taurus(Sable,Taurus X) with the 05-07 Five Hundred(Montego,Freestyle) the asin was never available in this configuration.

in the Five Hundred, et all(05-07), you got the old Duratec 3.0 and either a ZF CVT(vast majority),or an Asin 6 Speed.
Dad had an 05 Freestyle, AWD CVT. His Twin brother bought an 07 Freestlye, FWD CVT.

once they brought back the Taurus, and Sable Nameplates(and got away from the stupid "Fords have to start with an F, Mercury's with an M" failed experiment) they made a few changes,among them a facelift, and different drive train, replacing the Duratec 3.0, with the 3.5l Cyclone(originally known as the Duratec 3.5), the CVT/or Asin transmissions with the 6f units.

then for the 09 model year, they did a full body redesign, retired the Sable(as part of phasing out Mercury)and replaced it with the Lincoln MKS.(which it self has now been discontinued and replaced with the Continental, which is a gussied up version of the 7th Gen Taurus, Currently on sale in China(we Still get the 6th Gen), which is built on the same platform as the Fusion, but with a 5 inch Stretch.)
 
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The older fords used to have issues with the resistive-multiplex PRNDL switch. So the car would be hydraulically in Drive but electronically in Neutral with the hilarity that ensues.

The catch for this would be a data stream scan tool when it acts up reporting the selected gear.

Or she could drive around in 3rd the whole time, b/c the worst that could happen is she gets "regular Drive" since it's "off by one".
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
The older fords used to have issues with the resistive-multiplex PRNDL switch. So the car would be hydraulically in Drive but electronically in Neutral with the hilarity that ensues.

The catch for this would be a data stream scan tool when it acts up reporting the selected gear.

Or she could drive around in 3rd the whole time, b/c the worst that could happen is she gets "regular Drive" since it's "off by one".


FORScan would be excellent for looking at these Data PIDs
 
Originally Posted By: earlyre
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Seems to be the most common problem with the 08 Taurus, transmission issues:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Taurus/2008/

Check out the tsbs, many involving what you're describing. Too bad it's not the FWD version with an Aisin trans in it. Maybe trade it for one of those if you can. They seem to be cheap.


you're confusing the 08-09 Taurus(Sable,Taurus X) with the 05-07 Five Hundred(Montego,Freestyle) the asin was never available in this configuration.

in the Five Hundred, et all(05-07), you got the old Duratec 3.0 and either a ZF CVT(vast majority),or an Asin 6 Speed.
Dad had an 05 Freestyle, AWD CVT. His Twin brother bought an 07 Freestlye, FWD CVT.

once they brought back the Taurus, and Sable Nameplates(and got away from the stupid "Fords have to start with an F, Mercury's with an M" failed experiment) they made a few changes,among them a facelift, and different drive train, replacing the Duratec 3.0, with the 3.5l Cyclone(originally known as the Duratec 3.5), the CVT/or Asin transmissions with the 6f units.

then for the 09 model year, they did a full body redesign, retired the Sable(as part of phasing out Mercury)and replaced it with the Lincoln MKS.(which it self has now been discontinued and replaced with the Continental, which is a gussied up version of the 7th Gen Taurus, Currently on sale in China(we Still get the 6th Gen), which is built on the same platform as the Fusion, but with a 5 inch Stretch.)


Great details on the non Taurus name years. We have a 2006 Ford 500 with the Aisin 6 speed with is still an awesome car that the son is driving to college due to the MPG of his 2002 5.9L Ram 1500 quad cab. These years were the 1st Gen Volvo S-80 chassis (then owned by Ford) with Ford 3.0L engine and electronics. At 150K miles it still as good as the 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X on fuel.
 
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