1997 Mercury Sable won't shift when cold

1997 MERCURY SABLE
158,000 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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PASTORCESENA
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
car will take off in 1st and slip when suposed to go to 2nd like if it was in neutral and if I slow down it will engage to 1st again "when it's cold". If I warm up car for 20 min. It will operate completly normal, shift smooth, shift all gears, " while car is warmed up".
I changed trans oil & filter and still the same thing.
Dec 22, 2009 at 9:58 PM
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KHLOW2008
  • ✓ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 41,814 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
Hi pastorcesena,

Thank you for the donation.

The symptoms indicates that the transmission has pressure leakages internally.

Some seals are worn and after warming up, the expansion of components/seals would reseal to provide the required pressure to run the transmission.

The slippping indicates pressure losses and the transmission has to be rebulit/replaced to rectify.
Dec 24, 2009 at 12:40 PM
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