My wifes 2003 Focus wagon has had trouble lately with the torque converter not locking up once the tranny warms up.  It also occasionally shifts VERY hard.  Autozone plugged me in to their machine and gave :
Error code P0761
THE PCM HAS DETERMINED THAT THE VOLTAGE SIGNAL FROM SHIFT SOLENOID "C" INDICATES INADEQUATE PERFORMANCE OR A "STUCK OFF" CONDITION

I picked up a new solenoid to put in, but I will only have about an hour after work and before dark to put the thing in and will be away this weekend.   If I had time, I would just take the cover off the tranny, then feel around till I saw what looks like the part I bought and change the filter while at it.  I dont even know if its internal though.  There are a lot of little plastic and sheet metal covers on this things transmission that could be concealing this littler part.  

Does anyone know where I start to replace the solenoid?
Is is somewhere on the outisde of the tranny under a cover or is it deep within.....to deep for my average shade tree mechanic skills???

EMAIL sent

Gary

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH

I have already missed my chance this afternoon and my wife and I will be gone all weekend, but thats simple enough for me to do Monday afternoon if I rush.

Time to get the Surefires and jack stands out.

Are you a certified mechanic or something.  Those PDF's are too good.

FORD senior mastertech
ASE Master
SHTF Zombie survivor


anytime my friend


Gary

IT IS DONE

The light is finallly off, but the thing still shifts hard when you let off at about 40, then get back on it kinda hard.  I guess thats just how these things shift cause its always done that.  At least now the torque converter isnt staying locked in while you stop till it kills the motor or else never locking in at all at freeway speeds.

What size is the nut that holds on the rear spindle bearings.  Its also about due a new set of brake pads and I assume the bearings/etc gotta come off.

PS....If you lived in MS my wife and I would be taking you out to dinner.

drum or rotor?






Gary

Email sent for either

good luck

Gary

Thanks for the brake info, but it turns out I didn't fix the transmission after all.  I just didn't drive it long enough to warm up the transmission the other night.  Its doing exactly the same thing once it warms up and its still giving the same error code.  I swapped out shift solenoid "C" per the pdf's you sent me, but the guy at autozone said its possible ford had the diagnostics wrong and it really means solenoid "D" or "E".  Seems worth a shot to swap around.

Two local garages and the local Ford dealership said on the phone they could rebuild my transmission for ~$2000, but nobody seemed interested in fixing it.  A friend says thats typical when they cant figure out exactly whats wrong with it, they just rebuild the whole thing.

I'd rather go buy a $400 scrap tranny and swap out the  Shift Solenoid Body if that would fix it.  Ill try the solenoid swap tonight and let you know how that goes.

PS, the pan had very little metal on the magnet, so I am assuming this is a control problem and not a mechanical problem.

I just learned how tough the factory sealant is on those tranny pans this last weekend...

Out of curiousity, how many miles do you have on yours? My wife has an '01 with 50K, so I was doing a fluid change among other things...I still can't believe how hard it was to clean that crap off....oh, and if you haven't done a thermostat yet, the pucker factor will be high after you pull the 1st screw out of the plastic housing .