1984 ford tranny no reverse

[bahrkodu]

ok so heres the deal i know it not a ford truck but i bought a 1984 mercury marquis (not grand) i know pile of junk but may plow over some trees pretty good ive done my research and the tranny is similar to the ones they use in rangers of its time would someone give me some tips on maybe getting REVERSE to work again?

[bradrhale]

lack of reverse is usually not a good sign. mostly means that a rebuild is in the near future. as many miles is on that engine, i would imagine she has lived a good life. would this be the c4??

[bahrkodu]

anything that i can do temporarly ? does this usually compromise the drive gears too? i honestly just want to bag this car hard for a day yes i believe its the c4

[hotrodpc]

I am going to guess its the Low/Reverse Clutch pack is wore out, or a seal is gone so that clutch pack can not compress a piston. It would not be the direct clutch pack also needed to run reverse since your forward gears are working. I have a feeling although your first gear is working in Drive, it probably will not work in manual 1st either.

[bahrkodu]

what does eveyone think could this thing take a pretty good beating or do you think as soon as i start driving it rough it will **** out completely

[hotrodpc]

To be honest, there is no telling. Of course you know it does not have reverse, but it might just go another 30-40,000 before anything else goes wrong with it.

[bahrkodu]

i guess avoid the gear drops and more of the tree plowing

[eponator]

Originally Posted by bahrkodu

i guess avoid the gear drops and more of the tree plowing

What he said... and video is a bonus!!!!

No way to really know how long it'll last... You could try some trans additives... I've heard stories where the additive "fixed" it just long enough to do what they needed it for before they had to tear it apart and rebuild it... Just a thought

[uranium67]

Maybe change the fluid, and put in some lucas, or depending if you have the time, change out the band/clutches.

[hotrodpc]

No need for fluid change at this point. That would likely speed up the trashing problem, and it will NOT fix reverse at all. Trans likley needs a rebuild to fix reverse, but the forward gears could possibly go another 10-20,000 miles. I know a guy who drove a Chevy Van for 4 years with no 2nd gear. He would get the rpms way up high in 1st, then let off the gas, it would go straight to 3rd. Finally after we tore it down for a rebuild we found a broken sprag gear to be the cause of 2nd gear loss and the clutches were still in good shape. Probably could have driven it another 4 years.