2002 Ford Escape transmission issues
I have a 2002 Ford Escape XLT 4WD with approx 145k miles. Just today, we started
having a strange transmission issue. My wife was driving the vehicle when it started
acting up. Before this, there were no indicators of any tranny issues. (no slipping, no
hard shifts, etc) The Escape doesn't like going into gear when engaged it seems. After
the car is started, when depressing the brake pedal, there is a clicking or ticking sound
under the dash, it sounds like it is coming from near the steering column. It will tick
once when the brake starts to engage (right about the same time the brake lights come
on). When shifted into gear, the transmission will not engage most of the time. I can
sometimes get the tranny to engage by leaving the tranny in gear, brake depressed,
and lightly revving the motor. The car will stay in gear for 30-45 seconds, then it seems
to pop out of gear again. Pull over, put it in park, back into gear, hold down the brake,
rev the motor a bit, tranny engages and gets you down the road for another 30-45
seconds. While in gear, the tranny shifts between gears just fine. Now, granted, I was
limping the car back home when the issue started, but it seems to shift from 1st into
2nd with no problems while the tranny was in drive.
I have read a lot about bad trannys in these cars, but it doesn't seem to be a burned
out tranny. It shifts from gear to gear just fine when the tranny does decide to engage,
no tranny fluid under the vehicle, tranny fluid is full. Fluid isn't dirty or have that burned
smell, no metal in it from what I could see. The brake pedal never made the tick sound
when depressed until the transmission problem started. Any information/ideas would
be greatly appreciated!