Hi all,

I'm a first time Ford owner from PNG. I've had this beautiful 2003 BA Fairlane for about over a year now. Haven't had any major problems apart from overheating due to a cracked radiator and a faulty regulator on the alternator.........both of which have been resolved with both a second hand radiator and Motocraft alternator. Apart from that the car ran like a dream.

Wasn't up until a about 2 months ago I started noticing that I sometimes couldn't get the transmission to go into Performance or Sports modes when moving the selector lever from the "D" position to the left. Other times it would go straight into Neutral after moving the selector lever from "P" to "D" or Performance/Sports Modes (no reverse either). Solved both problems by switching engine off and starting up again. This usually occurred during warm engine start ups. Very rarely during cold start ups.

About a month ago there was a slight sound of gears grinding in the gearbox when shifting 1st to 2nd in any of the gear selection modes. I went ahead and changed out the transmission fluid but couldn't change the filter due to non stock here at our Ford dealer.

A week ago my brother in-law used the car. A few blocks down the road he pulled out onto the freeway and shifted into second, he said it felt like it slipped for a second before fully engaging. He pulled out onto the outside lane and continued on. As he climbed up a steep incline the car suddenly lost drive and free revved. The car lost all drive ,even reverse. After a few attempts at switching off and starting up the engine, he couldn't get it into any of the gears and decided to have the car towed back to the house.

The car is able to shift into 1st and reverse during cold start ups but shifts are very poor. All drive is lost as engine reaches operating temperature. No flashing of the gear select display to indicate "Limp Home Mode".

Been doing a hell of a lot of reading regarding the problem and haven't gotten around to touching the transmission itself. Also would like to get some sound advice and pointers reguarding the problem here before I do some testing myself. Thinking it might be the Inhibitor Switch, Transmission Temp Sensor or multiple Solenoids.

Would appreciate any sort of advice. Thanks in advance.