Hello,
Recently my 95 Mercury Cougar has been having some transmission problems. I was driving home recently when 3rd gear refused to work. My automatic transmission can handle 1st and 2nd fine, but once it hits the 45 MPH mark and tries to shift into 3rd it just sits there revving.
Before the transmission failed, it slipped a few times in previous drives, but it was only recently that 3rd has refused to work altogether.
The check engine light comes on, but has been coming on for as long as I have owned the car, so not sure if that's related. The check engine light does not stay on though, rather it just comes on when the accelerator is pressed, then goes off after about a minute. This repeats and I'm not sure if it's related to the transmission.
With overdrive turned off, I can drive the car at higher speeds, but it is not shifting into the higher gear, it doesn't even try to it seems. I can get up to around 55 MPH but then the RPMs start getting around 4,000 so I haven't pushed it past there. With overdrive on I get the behavior where it slips as if it is neutral when trying to change to 3rd.
Looking online and talking with a few mechanic friends of mine there seem to be a few things that could be wrong. I'm hoping there's a simple fix for this, but a rebuild might be necessary I suppose. I'm also wondering if this is something that will get worse or if it's something where I could continue to drive it just as-is until I get a new car, as this one only has to last me a few more months likely.
Thanks
Recently my 95 Mercury Cougar has been having some transmission problems. I was driving home recently when 3rd gear refused to work. My automatic transmission can handle 1st and 2nd fine, but once it hits the 45 MPH mark and tries to shift into 3rd it just sits there revving.
Before the transmission failed, it slipped a few times in previous drives, but it was only recently that 3rd has refused to work altogether.
The check engine light comes on, but has been coming on for as long as I have owned the car, so not sure if that's related. The check engine light does not stay on though, rather it just comes on when the accelerator is pressed, then goes off after about a minute. This repeats and I'm not sure if it's related to the transmission.
With overdrive turned off, I can drive the car at higher speeds, but it is not shifting into the higher gear, it doesn't even try to it seems. I can get up to around 55 MPH but then the RPMs start getting around 4,000 so I haven't pushed it past there. With overdrive on I get the behavior where it slips as if it is neutral when trying to change to 3rd.
Looking online and talking with a few mechanic friends of mine there seem to be a few things that could be wrong. I'm hoping there's a simple fix for this, but a rebuild might be necessary I suppose. I'm also wondering if this is something that will get worse or if it's something where I could continue to drive it just as-is until I get a new car, as this one only has to last me a few more months likely.
Thanks