No forward motion on cold start

Hi guys!

I seem to be having a problem with my 'new' Mercury Colony Park (1978, 400ci). on cold starts - after some hours or a night - the car won't move forward when I shift in D. strange thing is R works fine! first it started to move after about 10 seconds, but this morning it took 5 minutes...

oil seems ok, level maybe a bit too high but difficult to see. no strange smells.

what could this be? band-adjustment? (how?) why is R ok? no strange sounds and shifts smoothly when finally driving.

i don't have a manual (yet) so hopefully you can help me?

 

Could just be a quirk of the car that you will have to deal with. My '89 Country Squire as plenty of quirks. It may be a minor transmission issue, but wait till you get the opinion of one of the guys that really know what they are talking about.

 

When I buy a car I first change all the fluids, unless I know it's been done.
The tranny should be done probably every 25k miles or so, unless it's running synthetic.
It's doubtful anyone except an experienced expert could diagnose a specific problem online, and I'm not sure that we have a guy like that here.

I'm not a member but may somebody over here can help:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/260730/

 

Thanks for your replies. After my offroad-holiday I will replace the tranny-filter and oil and I'll have a look what the car does after that.

I find it very strange that the tranmission shifts perfectly when on operating temperature and it does shift in reverse but not in drive. I've had many USA cars with an automatic transmission with their problems, but never encountered this...

The oil-level is difficult to read; when I remove the dipstick, clean it and repeat several times, every time the whole lower part of the dipstick is wet from oil. I can't read the level. I leave the transmission in 'P' after it's on operating temperature and shift through all gears beforehand.

What kind of transmission do I have? It's a 400ci.

 

Hot oil will move easier through the trasnm. Reverse might not take as much PSI to engage clutches,, IF transmission filter is dirty / clogged it will slow down more when cold, thus starving out top end to the clutches & valve body could be the problem. At least check the condition of the transmission filter. Check fluid level when cold from overnight to see where the oil level is, dont start engine !just note the level BEFORE you start it.. then go from there!!

 

Ok, spend the sunday to refresh the engine- and transmission-oil including the filters and using an WYNNS-engine-flush before draining the engine oil. I've still got to do the sparkplugs, wires, distributor and cap (next week).

I've found that the oil-level in the transmission was extremely high every time I tried reading it from the dipstick. The oil on the dipstick didn't smell burned and looked nicely red. When I removed the pan I found that the oil looked like it was contaminated with water (?) or something. I also found some residue in the filter; looks like parts of gasket-sealant which was applied very generous by the previous owner/garage in the US.

After the oil-changes I put everything to the right level but didn't have a chance to drive it for a long period of time. Now I have to wait till next sunday and see if the transmission will shift in Drive normally after a cold start. I really hope the oil and filter change helped a bit or else I am looking at a complete overhaul of the transmission.

I'll post some pictures I made yesterday. Just for fun.

My '78 Colony Park on the lift in my garage


Strange contamination of the oil but NO metal-shavings


Some gasket-residue in the transmisson filter


Cleaned underneath and new filter including gasket


Cleaned the transmission-pan and placed gasket


Transmission-pan mounted (and rusty)


Transmission-pan cleaned and painted - not necessary but looks better

 

Looks good,, now you've done all you can until the final test drive,, it maybe previous owner was having a problem too.. does look heavy on the permatex,, I think water would still bead-up..? strangly the filter dont look that bad,, didnt know it was the screen type.

 

K...not being a smartass....but are you checking the tranny fluid with the car running at temp in park??

Its common to have people check it with the car shut off!!

otherwise...it sounds like the inner seals are going...when they start to go..the fluid will bypass them until they swell a bit...then all of a sudden your moving!!

I have this problem with my 68...but i'm too lazy to change/fix the tranny

it has to run for about 20 minutes before the tranny builds any pressure...doesnt leak out or anything....so I wont be robbing any banks soon..... fast getaways are not going to happen

 

Nope, as I already said; I checked the fluid in several ways. At first the right way; at temperature, in P. Later on I even tried cold and car shut down. Every time I got a reading of way too high.

Now I filled the tranny with fresh fluids and set her to the right level. Only thing to do is wait for the next weekend and see what happens at a cold start. I don't have the time to drive to my storage/workshop and check her inbetween. Sadly enough.

@Cadipacer : the fluid looked OK to me at first glance, but what was left in the pan was a bit sluggish as you can see in the picture. Not complete normal I guess. The filter is a screen type (unlike my Mopars and Corvette) and it showed some permatex (is that what it is called; the sealant-in-a-tube?) residue. Everything else looked nice and clean and no metal shavings or whatsoever. I forgot to adjust the bands; don't know if it is necessary however.

 

The residue in the pan,, grayish could be permatex.? Maybe even the wrong type fuild was used at last change.? The residue could have the valve body gummed up to where spools and orings are too tight- swollen
thus causing slow engagements while cold,,, ALL these are possibilities.. and since last thing to do is a rebuild, try what you can ... I ve used a additive called LUBE GUARD that stops torque convertor chatter in the Crown Vic s had ( 3). It is good for most all problems related to the valve body. Theres a colored bottle for each Manufacture .. red. green, black ,etc ask at a NAPA or Orielys store they will know ,, but not " Return Zone"... hope this helps...

 

I'll keep that in mind! However we don't have any of these stores over here in the Netherlands

Cross your fingers for the weekend...

 

If CadiPacer can stuff a 500 CID engine in a Pacer, he probably used a lot of that lubeguard.

Here's their main site.
http://www.lubegard.com/home.aspx

You can buy it online from them.

 

Funny, my wagon started to experience similar behavior. Yesterday when I switched to D after a cold night it took about 2 seconds for the car to start moving forward. Today about 1 second. Basically, pressing accelerator pedal did not move the car.

I will have to get the fluids changed and transmission filter.

 

I don't think 1 or 2 seconds should be any problem. It takes for about 20 seconds with my Mercury and I hope this solved the problem. Or at least the time shortened I'll know in about a few days!

Did you try reverse? Did it shift immediately in R but not in D?

 

Well, considering how the car was behaving so far, this is definitely something new. I did switch from P to D, applied pressure to the gas pedal and car didn't move for about 2 seconds.

Nope, I will have to check that if the problem persists.