I have a 96 escort w/AT.....Yeah I know its a FORD. While cold, it had a delay going into gear. Changed tranny fluid and filter. Now it doesn't work at all. When you shift it in any gear besides P or N it does nothing. The reverse light comes on when put in reverse also, and still nothing. No grinding, or any type of different noise. I want to exhaust all resources before pulling the tranny. Is the tranny bad, electrical...... any ideas?

 

Pull the pan back off. If the filter isn't on good the trans may be sucking air instead of getting fluid.

 

I'll second that, or you dont have enough fluid in it. Nothing special electronically with that transmission so we can exclude that.

 

It has plenty of fluid, we pulled off the pan and didnt see anything unusual. Even if the filter is on wrong, It wouldnt be sucking air, just not sucking....right..?

 

Can't see a modular valve, could the pump inside be run electrically and if it has no juice, then no pumping will occur?

 

The pump isn't electric....it runs off the torque converter snout (that's why a converter has notches in the snout.) Also a modulator valve will mess up the shift points, but it won't keep it from going into gear.

Unhook one of the tranny cooler lines that go to the radiator and make sure it's getting fluid pressure. Be warned: the stuff is gonna go everywhere if you aren't careful. I like to unhook a line from the radiator and screw a nipple into it's place, then place a piece of hose on the nipple and one on the line and run them both into a bottle. That'll help contain the spray.