I have  a 2000 s-type 3.0 se with 50,000 miles on the clock when I put the car into drive and go to pull away the car will just rev like it is in neutral I have to keep trying before the gearbox will engage drive does anyone now what can cause this problem .Thanks in advance

Barrie

Hi Barrie and welcome to the club.

I am not a mechanic, - just a driver of 60 years  --  so as you car is an auto [like mine] I would be inclined to put the car into second gear and see if it moves gently away, then use third gear.  I would also suggest that you should try reversing.  If that works OK  I would guess that the auto box is not selecting the gear on start.

Let me know how you get on.

Regards,

Peter.

Hi peter thanks for the quick response reverse works and when you select second gear it works it’s just when you put car into drive .Car has been left standing for a while not sure if that’s got anything to do with the problem.Thanks

Barrie

HI

Check the oil level in the gearbox, 2000 cars use ford gearbox and are pretty reliable

its cheap to do change as it uses standard atf, would change the oil aswell

cheers

Joe

Cheers joe I will give that a try

Have a look at the selector cable that runs from the cabin to the transmission. If it is slack you would have the difficulty you describe.

A 20 year old car with very few miles. Could very well be a stretched cable as JustBadly suggests. While checking the cable give it a good spray with some spray grease (preferably) or WD40. Lack of use can cause the mechanisms to seize up.