toml@druxm.UUCP (05/31/84)
All the flak about Ford transmissions shifting into reverse by themselves leads me to ask the following question: "Are all Ford automatic transmissions prone to do this (more specifically, is the one in my 1969 Ranchero prone to it)?" Also, there was a discussion a while ago, in which someone said (I think) that the Ford C6 is a good transmission, but the C4 is not so good. How can I tell which I have? (One possible bit of info I have is that the middle drive position is second gear. Some Ford transmissions of the same era have a second-or-high middle position.) Note that in its 15-year, 110000-mile life, my transmission has never done anything as crass as shifting gears by itself, and only misbehaved once (overheated in stop-and-go traffic hauling a load and towing a car -- I've since installed an auxilliary cooler). Also, since I keep my parking brake adjusted (came in handy when my service brakes went out suddenly -- Sears hasn't done any brake work for me since), and my idle speed at spec, the parking brake has no difficulty keeping the car from moving in either direction. On the other hand, I admit that I have the lazy habit of never using the parking brake (I learned that habit in the frozen wastes of NJ in the winter. It's a real bummer to find your brakes frozen in the morning). Tom Laidig AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver ...!ihnp4!druxm!toml
tag@tty3b.UUCP ("Tom Gloger"3974 97320) (05/31/84)
<wire mesh bug screen in front of the radiator> Tom Laidig asks: > All the flak about Ford transmissions shifting into reverse by > themselves leads me to ask the following question: "Are all Ford > automatic transmissions prone to do this? I don't think so. Our '76 Monarch has the opposite problem: It is often very difficult to get out of Park, especially (so it seems) if it was parked pointing up hill. Could this be another manifestation of the same problem? Ours has never shifted by its self. -- Tom Gloger AT&T Teletype Corporation Skokie, Illinois ihnp4!ltuxa!tty3b!tag
wgg@floyd.UUCP (Bill Graves) (05/31/84)
I can vouch personally for the Ford transmission problem. The car was a '67 Mercury wagon. One morning I backed it out of the garage, put it in Park, got out, walked around behind the car to close the garage door. As I got my hand on the door, I heard a click, and turned around to see the Merc pile into my son's car, caving in a fender and breaking a tail light. It was some time later that the stories about the Ford transmission started coming out. Wish I still had that Merc, though. That 390 engine was a joy to drive. Bill Graves floyd!wgg
tackett@wivax.UUCP (Raymond Tackett) (06/02/84)
A mildly incendiary comment on the difficulty of getting out of Park
on a hill:
If you are too dumb to set the parking brake on a hill and to set it
BEFORE shifting to Park, you are expecting one lousy gear tooth (called
the parking pawl) to hold the entire weight of the vehicle suspended until
you get back. OF COURSE you have a problem pulling the poor little thing
out of the gears after that kind of abuse.
If the parking pawl breaks, your car is loose. Anyone who is careless
enough to omit the parking brake probably didn't set his wheels to steer
into the curb, either. That sort of stupidity will cost you a big fine
in San Francisco, where they do not underestimate the gravity of the situation.
P.S. Some automatics (Ford, I think) were designed to pop out of Park
intentionally if the car was struck at over 5MPH. This saves the
parking pawl from damage, but turns the car loose.
--
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Ray Tacketttag@tty3b.UUCP ("Tom Gloger"3974 97320) (06/04/84)
A mildly incendiary rebuttal to Ray Tackett: I failed to explain what I meant by parking up-hill: I was speaking of a typical parking lot just-enough-to-let-the-water-run-off slope, not San Fransisco or even midwestern-river-town-type hills. For the latter, I do know how to set the wheels when parking, whether with or without a curb, up hill or down hill. I will not use my parking brake unless absolutely necessary, however. It's a habit I intentionally dropped after getting them frozen in the winter. When frozen, Ford parking brakes will let one back out of a parking spot, but not go forward or return to the same parking spot. And if they're not used in the winter, the cables get rusty so they'll freeze in the summer too. I do appreciate the insight into the internal workings of the Ford transmission. It gives me a feel for what's wrong. Are all Fords hard to get out of park? No, that's how the discussion started. Were they facing up-hill or down at the time? (That's a genuine question; I'd like to know.) Oh yeah, thanks for pointing out to the entire net how dumb, stupid, and careless I am. I suppose if I were smart, you'd be hearing from my lawyer in the morning. ;-) -- Tom Gloger AT&T Teletype Corporation Skokie, Illinois ihnp4!ltuxa!tty3b!tag