1999 Mercury Sable Speedo and Shift Fail

MERCURY SABLE
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MPLTMILLER
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  • 1 POST
1999 Mercury Sable 70,000 Miles, after about 20-30 miles of city/stop and go freeway driving the speedometer drops to Zero and the car will not shift properly. Took the car to the transmission repair shop and they could not reproduce the problem (Speedometer worked and car shifted). It happened again on the way back from the shop! The car had a new motor installed at 13,000 miles. The car had sat idle for a year but has been up and running fine for 2 weeks prior to this problem.
Dec 14, 2006 at 9:10 AM
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MERLIN2021
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 17,250 POSTS
there must be an electronic shift control on the car,
if you can get under there see if you can get the speedo cable out of the tranny any inspect the gear for damage. if no damage look for connectors and wires and make shure they are tight. Somtimes when these are unplugged they are brittle and break. This may have happened during engine swap, and have wiggled loose!
Mar 8, 2007 at 7:09 AM

Suggested Repair

Inspect the transmission speedometer drive gear for damage, then check related connectors and wiring for looseness or breakage, especially if disturbed during the earlier engine swap.

Conversation Summary

A 1999 Mercury Sable loses speedometer function and shifts improperly after 20-30 miles of driving, though a transmission shop could not reproduce the issue. The expert suggests an electronic shift-control problem and recommends inspecting the speedometer gear and checking connectors and wires that may have loosened or broken during an engine swap.

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