2006 Mercury Milan - Transmission Going?

[Fishinguy40]

2006 Mercury Milan, 3.0L, 6-speed automatic transmission, 61K miles.

Wife has complained that the car sometimes "jerks" when she accelerates. Last night while she was driving it she stated that the engine accelerated but the transmission didn't...i.e. she could hear the engine revving but she did not pick up speed. This happened as she tried to merge on the highway. It also happened again later from a stop. Yes, she had the car in D.

I drove it and of course it seemed to work fine for me. Though I did notice as I slowed at a stop sign, the transmission downshifted hard. I could feel the car lurch a little.

Fluid level is normal. Don't know what else I could check other than that. I'm hoping a sticking solenoid or something that doesn't mean a "rebuild"

[Scott K]

Was the fluid dark, or smell burnt? If not, I would start by pulling codes with a scan tool, if it was slipping, you should get a ratio error code.

[Fishinguy40]

Fluid looked good. No smell that I could tell.

The service engine light is not on, so I'm assuming that the code reader from the auto will not pick up the necessary codes?

[Fishinguy40]

The shop calls today and says that there were no codes stored. They also test drove it with the computer hooked up and monitored performance of the tranny. They said it worked flawlessly. They did say that the fluid seemed a little dirty and recommended a flush.

I hope this fixes the issue. I have to say, I am surprised that there were no codes stored. On Sunday, wife came home after driving all over town and complained that it was doing it again. I got in the car, put it onto drive and slowly stepped on the gas. The engine accelerated but the car went no where. Then suddenly....boom. The tranny kicked in HARD. I would think slippage like that would register a code. Am I wrong?

[Fishinguy40]

After having the transmission flushed it worked good for a couple months. Then it starts to shift hard again.

I did some research and found a TSB for Milans and the transmissions. Basically, if the car has less than 20k miles they recommend reprogramming. If car has more than 20k, they recommend replacing the valve body and reprogramming. I talked to a transmission guy that has done several of these fixes. I asked him what is so magical about the 20k. He said that one of the valves in the valve body wears prematurely. If it is reprogrammed before the 20k, they can probably prevent the excessive wear. Though he said that he still has had to change the valve manifold in some that had less than 20k because repgramming alone was not successful.

My car has about 64k. So I definetly need the new valve body. A new valve body lists for approx $1,000. OUCH

[Scott K]

I would try the reprogram before replacing it, what would it hurt?? If it doesnt fix it, then you know what you need to do to fix it! If it does fix it, you just saved yourself a grand!