94 Ford Probe no longer goes into gear. It starts and idles fine and fluid level is OK but recently the overdrive acted funny and is switched off to allow it to be driven. What is wrong?

Answer 1

You may have a severe transmission problem, or it may just be an issue with the linkage. There are a range of possibilities from bad to minor. Check the condition of the fluid for clues to what is going on inside the transmission. A visit to the service shop is a must here, and that means towing it in. If possible, have someone come and look at it and make an assessment from the "outside" of the unit. There isn't much that can be used as leverage to offset a lack of technical skill to diagnose a problem like this. It usually takes someone with a fair amount of experience to "localize" the problem to something that can be fixed "outside" the transmission, or to something internal (which will require that the unit be take out and pulled apart). In automatic transmissions, a few different things can go wrong, and they range from bands to seals to gears. Usually problems like this require the unit to be torn down and rebuilt or to be replaced. Assessment by a professional usually doesn't take that long, but if there is an internal problem, a "rebuild" is usually recommended. This "blanket approach" makes sense because the unit would have to be torn down and inspected to determine the actual cause. And it doesn't make sense to take a transmission completely apart to inspect it and then just replace "one little thing" and reassemble it. The "savings" is minimal in an instance like this. That's why rebuilding the whole unit or replacing the unit is usually recommended.