Right, where do I start?



I just bought a 1999 Ford Escort SE for 300. Had to get a battery and flex pipe and that was all.



When I take off from a stop light/stop sign, etc it seems to shift into
(I assume 2nd gear, maybe 3rd?) around 25MPH. If I need to get going in a
hurry the engine seems a bit loud until it shifts. This doesn't seem
correct to me...



Also, i'm not sure if Overdrive is working. At 60+ MPH the engine seems a bit loud.



And also, not sure if this is an issue or normal for this car... But
let's say i'm driving along. I take my foot off the gas and the engine
instantly goes down to idle. Therefore, going down a hill, I have no
"engine braking", letting off the gas just sends the engine directly to
idle. When I step on the gas again the transmission seems to engage just
fine and continue along like usual...



I may be stupid, but I thought the engine should stay at whatever RPM it
was at, even with the foot off the gas, unless you start going slower
(of course).



So I guess my question is, have I lost 2nd gear (since it shifts at
25-30MPH?) With the engine being a bit loud at 55+ MPH, have I lost
overdrive (4th) as well? Since the engine drops to idle while driving
with my foot off the pedal, is this a complete transmission failure?



I just bought the car and I absolutely love her (I wish I had bought an
Escort sooner to be honest!). And for the price, I can't beat it! But I
really hope it's not going to cost 500-2000 for this tranny thing.



Thanks for reading my long and rambling post!

The auto box in the escort is a CTX so has no 1st, 2nd or 3rd gear etc.

Attached is the description and operation which should answer your questions.

CTX.pdf

Excellent pdf on CTX, I was completely unaware of this so new lesson for me!

Automatics characteristically drop the throttle when you do, I think that one of the reasons why is because if you are going downhill, the car doesn't actually know that you are so if it leaves the gear engaged it will continue to accelerate. It will not know to drop down a gear (in conventional automatics) and to engine brake. If you have a semi-automatic (such as Honda's tiptronic) you can manually select a gear and pseudo-engine brake, but I found it a bit of a pain in the butt so I just used the brakes.
Automatics are known for going through more brakes than manuals, it is the trade-off.

Hi Charlie I had to reply to this as no1 they are rare and no2 I owned a mk7 auto back in 96, a blue 1.6 'encore' which was the entry level model that year for the escort and it came with the CVT box.

When I look back it was very comfortable to drive not having to change gear all the time,but I was a lot younger back then and maybe a bit "exuberant" in my driving style, which didn't really suit this model to be honest. As long as you don't drive it like you stole it then you have nothing to worry about.

Car bought brand new and it suffered a complete gearbox failure at 4500 miles.

The second gearbox lasted about 10,000 miles,so with 14,000 miles showing a new box was fitted,so its then on its 3rd box which lasted till 23 k miles so now it has had 3 new gearboxes all done under warranty, working fine when I sold it with 27k miles showing (I got another escort 1.6 manual)

I did drive it hard but it was so much fun,raced a smart looking chap in full tweeds driving a 50s Austin Healy 3 litre,I think he backed off somewhat,this guy must of been 75 easily (with wiseness accumulated)

Loads of fun,very easy to drive,and not too much to go wrong,build quality can be a bit high and miss (Monday mornings & Friday afternoons) mainly.

Hope you enjoy your essy,and don't worry about the gearbox seeming a bit strange you will soon get used to it,you might find getting decent discs&pads on the front helps as you tend to useful the brakes more in an auto or that maybe just me!

Take care.

Mac.