Lincoln/Mercury Repair: 88 Merc Sable Transmission, mercury sable, broken axle

Question
My 88 Mercury Sable's transmission seems to have stopped working/connecting to the engine - I know this is not the right way to explain that! I was driving along fine, waiting in line at an intersection in drive with foot on the brake, when I went to move forward the car rolled backward (I was on a slight hill). When I try to put the car in reverse or drive, it makes a wierd moaning type noise and tries to go in reverse. In park or neutral it acts like it is in neutral. When you put it back into park it makes a small grinding noise. The engine starts fine and there are no check engine lights coming on. Cars fluids are all fine. The transmission has not been having any problems to date. This is a really clean car with only 80k miles on it. We are wondering if there might be a simpler solution before taking it to a shop, since it happened immediately and seems to be a complete disconnect?

Answer
Hi Cindy,

You have a broken axle! Have your car towed to a transmission shop. Not the dealer. It should be right around $225 for the total repair. I'm pretty sure that Cottman Transmission will tow you for free if you let them do the work, at least I would.