Lincoln/Mercury Repair: 99 Villager Transmission, better business bureau, rubber gasket

Question
Hi Pete,

I have 62,000 miles on my '99 Villager (3.3 ltr).  This winter my wife has been having trouble getting it into reverse until the engine is really warmed up (no other trouble at all with the transmission, just reverse when it has sat out all night in the cold).  

It typically only happens when it's below 35. Now that it's spring, it's not happening.

A friend thinks that a seal or rubber gasket associated with the reverse is "going" on me, and the transmission fluid is flowing around something rather than pushing it into gear. He said the rubber contracts too much when it's cold, but moves back to its correct position once the tranmission fluid is able to warm it up.  That would explain why it only happens when it's cold.  Have you heard of this on Villagers?

He suggested I take it into a transmission shop, but they typically charge $70.00 just for the analysis.  He also felt I'm going to need to get this fixed in about six months at the latest--I couldn't just leave it asis and warm the car up more in the winter (and that it wouldn't be much more expensive to just get a new transmission, rather than the repair).  

Help!  I bought this car to avoid having to get a new transmission as I had to do with my '95 Caravan.

I'm extremely disappointed in Mercury/Nissan if this is the case.  Is there anything else I can do?  Add something to the transmission fluid to make the rubber more pliant?  Call Mercury? The Better Business Bureau? Are there any recalls on this sort of thing?

What should I do first?

Thanks,

Steve

Answer
hello steve
thire no recalls on this they sell a fluid you can put in the tranny to fix the seals just ask for castile at your parts store the trannys and dodge are junk and fords are geting to have the same track record please rate my serivice pete