Have a 99 Contour 4cyl a/t (appx. 165,000 miles) that has suddenly decided to shift at various and sundry times. It doesn't seem affected by temp or the application of power. It shifts one gear at a time, up or down, sometimes harshly, sometimes quickly, but other times it works normal or the shift is mild or infrequent. No more than 5 minutes goes by without this random shift though. The fluid is full, and was changed 4 mos ago. It started after making about 400 miles of a 500 mile trip. It happens at any speed over about 30mph.

If there are any peripheral possibilities like vacuum, solenoid packs, computers, wiring, and the like, I'd like to check them prior to sending my daughter to the tranny shop. I'm pretty handy and have actually rebuilt a much older automatic tranny so I am vaguely familiar with some basics, but diagnostics are not my forte.

Any ideas?

 

a 99 contour does not have a vaccum modulator valve on it. are there any codes in the pcm? that can start you in the right direction. if you go to a tranny shop being a contour with a cd4e trans they will automaticlly tell you that you need a new one. i am a transmission man at a ford dealer. i see cd4e's alot and normally it is more cost affective to repalce the trans and usually you get a better warranty

 

It did have to go to the shop. It appears to have been a shifting sensor of some sort (I cannot recall exactly what they called it.), as they replaced that and it appears to have resolved the problem. There were codes, but none I could read with my home code reader. The codes led them to believe it was the sensor.

The car made a subsequent 500 mile trip, trouble free.

Thanks for the assistance.