Ford Forum - Enthusiast Forums for Ford Owners - 2001 Issue: High Gear Change

I have a 2001 Ford Escape, its got 146,000 (plus a couple hundred) miles on it, and lately in the past week I've had a new problem pop up with it, I will try to explain it to the best detail possible. A week later, a new problem follows suit. I think it might be drive-shaft related, but before I took it to the dealership to get inspected, I was hoping someone knowledgeable enough on Fords or Ford Escapes specifically could give me their opinion on what might be wrong. (I'm taking this thing to the dealership later this week on my day off from school.)

So, when the vehicle goes into the highest gear around 50-55 mph, there is a single thump I feel underneath my seat-or close to it. Normally it only thumps once or twice, but this week as of today it thumped more than once, and honestly that made me pretty nervous. I took it into Jiffy Lube to get the transmission level checked and it was certainly getting low (around a little less than a quart) - so I got it replaced and refilled. After that, the problem didn't go away.

The secondary issue: As of today, it also starts making a similar but lower frequency thump when at idle. I feel it in the same location. I noted that the RPM was below 1000.

No lights have come on whenever these thumps happen, either.

I was told it could be transmission related, but I (among others) suspect it might be something in the drive shaft.

Educated opinions on this would be great. I can try to give more details if needed. I've had this vehicle since 2007 so admittedly it's getting old. One last bit of information that might be useful:

It has had one other repair similar to the idling problem before. We thought it didn't like starting up cold since we live in Alaska, but it still had that problem into the Spring. The folks at the dealership fixed something that was loose-a computer chip or something like that. Honestly I don't remember what it was--so there COULD be two different problems here.

Thanks,
Lindsey