The 1988 Country Squire has been shifting from 2nd to 3rd kind of rough for a while. Fluid levels are good, all the basics that I know how to check look OK. NOW I'm getting a grind between 2 and 3 and there seems to be a resistance while going down the road.... and when I checked the fluid today, there's some wonderful little tiny hard bits in the fluid. So YAY me needing a Transmission rebuild. Ford started putting the AOD in like 1980, right? Just brainstorming if there was a way I could tweak something for betting gas mileage on my road trips we always take. So on to a new issue that I'm fairly certain I have isolated: Earlier this week, before my grinding transmission, cruising down the road at about 60 the car just ... shuts off. Like I had just reached over and turned the ignition off. Put the car in Neutral, fires right back up, get it back in gear (which I think helped accelerate my transmission issues) and off I go like nothing ... except it did it again. And again. Until I took ALL the weight off the ignition key, I realized if I does the shut off thing, and I catch it fast enough, I can tap the ignition and it comes right back to life no problem. So now if I start the car, I just barely move the key back towards me and it almost never shuts off on me. It does it at any speeds (parking lots, highway, back road, whatever) Am I right? Is it most likely the ignition switch just being worn out with 200k miles on it? Any tips or tricks I need to know or any additional parts I need to look for when I order it?
Ford had ignition switch recalls back in the day for this car. Call a Ford dealer and give them the VIN number and see if it has been done. Brian
And if not, before you go replacing the switch, pull the column covers and verify the fasteners holding the column together are tight. My friend Steven's '87 Grand Marq did the same thing, and after he replaced the ignition switch, it still did it, so I took a look, and found the column head was disassembling itself. I tightened everything back up, and no more irritating shut-offs. As for the trans, is the TV (throttle valve) cable still attached at the throttle quadrant? One of the problems with the TV design is the cable head has a pin that pops into a rubber grommet; some have tne pin break off, some have the grommet break apart, dropping the cable away from the throttle quadrant. In any case, you need to check that as well as the other end, and verify the adjustment didn't change on the cable head. With loss of the TV adjustment, you lose line pressure, and the trans slips so bad it wears out and burns up.
Okay... took me a while to get into it and check it. So ... looks like all the cables and stuff are attached and connected and nothing too shiny looking (meaning broke). I get a feeling like going over rumble strips or something sometimes when I'm at about 55 or 60 mph. And there's grit in my transmission fluid, so I'm going to call it time for a new one. I don't see anything other than regular check ups and maintenance on the current transmission on the records given to me. The ignition part ... that's still got me stumped. The car got to where it wouldn't start at all. It'd turn over, and just turn right back off like I just turned the key all the way back off. It's got fuel, because I can smell it... it's got spark, because I shocked the sh!t out of myself. I got a new lock cylinder for the ignition, slapped that bad boy in there... and it still does it. BUT ... if I tinker with it just a little and get it in the right spot, the car stays running. I called Ford and they said they didn't have an open recall on it, and checking the records from the first owner, there was some ignition work done in 1993. When I pulled the lock cylinder back out, I noticed there's a retaining ring, a brass washer like thing, and something behind that... it looks like items numbers 6, 7, and 8 in this diagram. http://repairguide.autozone.com/zne...00c152/80/04/e3/d2/large/0900c1528004e3d2.gif The thing numbered 8 seems REALLY floppy (that's a technical term, by the way. I tried to give the car viagra, didn't work) and so I think that might be where the issue lies. I'm not sure WHAT that is, or what it does, or how to find a new one of whatever that is... Bearing? Drive Gear? And @Silvertwinkiehobo - Sorry for my ignorance I believe I'm following the same path as your pal Steven. What pieces on the column head am I looking for to tighten back up? I didn't see anything obviously loose, but I'm sure I'm missing something.
NO, not the lock cylinder, the ignition ELECTRICAL switch! And did you remove the column shrouds, ensure the column's not loosey-goosey? This is what a switch looks like:
You can see how little the metal part grips the plastic part; if that comes undone, as it did on 1980's trucks and vans, it can cause the problems you describe, as well as eventually leading to damage or fire.
OOoooohhhhh.... crap. Yeah, think it's bad. It was on there tight, snug and happy, but when I popped the female end off, you can see there's some bad Mojo going on there. When I try to look inside the switch, there's corrosion and just doesn't look good. Guess that's my next trip. Think I'm OK to use my original lock cylinder if the switch works?
yeah. Good call, Twinkie. All better now. Left the new lock cylinder in just because, now it's all new in there.
Keep the old one as a spare. Yeah, those got a little hot, huh? Luckily the two halves didn't melt together.
