Ford Repair: flaring of engine, powertrain control module pcm, powertrain control module

Question
HI Dave,
I recently purchase a 1995 Lincoln Towncar for a second car. I took the car on a trip driving about 900 miles in one day. The car drove excellent the first 600 miles. I had the cruise control on at 70 mph and suddenly the engine reved and it seemed that the transmision was in nuetral for a few seconds. I shut off cruise and engine and transmision functioned normally. Later in my trip I came to a stop light, when I proceed to excellerate it repeated this 3 or 4 times so I let off the gas each time. The car then seemed to drive fine after this. I have not had it out on the road so to speak since. I had it in the Lincoln dealer and they basically said nothing even at my suggesting torque convertor or the tr/mlp sensor. Can you tell me more about this sensor? I just read that it was a possibility the article did elaborate. Price etc.
Any information is much appreciated

Thanks
Todd

Answer
It sounds like your tranmission might have the beginning of an internal failure.  I don't believe that a bad TR Sensor or Torque Converter would cause these symptoms.  There is a TSB out on this vehicle for "Slipping or Flaring of the 3-4 Shift", it requires replacing the transmission, but it does not describe 'no forward movement while in a forward gear'.

This is information directly from the Ford service manual.

Transmission Range (TR) Sensor
DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION

The transmission range (TR) sensor:

• Is transmission-mounted.
• The powertrain control module (PCM) monitors the voltage across a series of step-down resistors that corresponds to the position of the manual control lever. The powertrain control module uses this information in determining desired gear and electronic pressure control (EPC) pressure.
• Permits the engine to start only in the PARK and NEUTRAL positions.
• Activates the back-up lamps in the REVERSE position.

I hope this helps,
Dave