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Diagnosis help! Tranny/PATS alarm problems

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  OsirisGuy 
#1 ·
I've tried searching..but nothing I can find seems to relate directly to my problem...maybe its one issue..maybe its several...

First of all I have a 2004 Ford Mustang anniversary edition, v6 automatic. I'm the second owner and I've had it since July 07 and have no issues with it and I always have my oil changed on time and check my radiator fluid and have the tires rotated like normal maintenance requires, so I've never had an issues with this car until now.

First I noticed that my transmission has been slipping. I'll be driving along and if I hit a rough spot (and now even if I'm driving on a really smooth spot) in the road it will down shift and my RPMs will jump way up. I just let off the gas, and slowly reapply my foot to the gas again and it shifts back to the correct gear. It started doing this when I was going at speeds of 45 to 55 mph (around here most highways I drive the max speed is only 55), but I've noticed it will slip even in the low gears when I'm going only 35...or when I accelerate up from 0 it may shift but it seems to take a long time, like you would think it should shift faster than it is shifting right now.

At the same time...my other problem is that around the time that this became noticable my theft light on my dash came on. The first time it happened, I just had just parked the car after I had been driving for 15 minutes and after I parked I was on the phone talking while I left the car run and the car suddenly shutdown. I tried to restart the car..and it cranked...but would not start up. I saw that the theft light was rapidly blinking. I had never seen this happen before...so after trying to start up the car after a few attempts with no success...I just sat there for about 10 minutes. Then I tried to crank it up again..and that time it worked. I began to drive off..and the theft light was blinking like rapid again as I was driving down the road. The theft light would blink rapidly..then stop blinking...then blink again rapidly..and finally it went off right before I arrived home. I didn't drive it until the next day..and the next day..it started up with no theft light or any problems. The next several times I drove it after that..it was hit or miss whether when I started the car up if the theft light would come on...but I was still able to drive it. The last time I started it up...it died on me before I even drove 10 ft. I started it up...and drove off like nothing had happened. However, this last time...it wouldn't start up at all so I didn't drive it for a few days...then tried it again..and it would crank..but not start up at all. I can get it to crank but not to start up. Also now EVERY time that I try to start it up I see the theft light blinking rapidly and can crank the car but not get it to start anymore.

Now...I'm not sure if this is related, but I had the battery replaced by SEARS (btw...this is the first battery replacement so it still had the original battery in it). The reason I took it to SEARS to have them replace it is because it had corrosion on the terminals so much so that I was unable to get the negative and positive terminal cables off the battery terminals...even when using a vice grip wrench. After taking it to SEARS not even they could take the terminal cables off the battery terminals, so they had to cut them off and reterminate them. It was several days after that, that this problem started happening..and it seems it happened in a progressive manner like I've tried to describe above. I'm going to be moving overseas this summer, so I'd like to have the car fixed so I can take it with me and use it as my main vehicle (or only vehicle actually).

Please help. Any options I have would be good (including just disabling the PATS system for now if possible until I get overseas). Thanks in advance
 
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#2 ·
I can not say with complete certainty that the battery replacement is the problem, but i feel that's a good place to look. I know with some cars that disconnecting the battery messes up the computer and I guess it's left up to the computer guessing when to shift its gears. Doing so also could have reset the factory alarm or triggered the alarm somehow. Have you talked to any Ford Techs about it (either problem, more specifically the alarm). The PATS system is a very basic "alarm" system. Perhaps that blinking is the alarm going off telling you something is wrong (such as a reset or unauthorized use).

Just some thoughts. I'm sure one of the other guys will come in and be much more specific and know the minute details.
 
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