I was out today, and I was having some trouble with my car’s automatic transmission. It would slip a bit before getting in gear. I was planning to take it somewhere to have the oil changed so I told them to flush the transmission fluid and change it as well.
The problem has not gone away, but has gotten worse. The transmission works fine in reverse, but when it is in D, it seems like I can rev the engine up without it catching. It will catch if I turn the Overdrive off. I was able to get home on the highway this way.
I also just checked, and the fluid level is normal and red, although it was a bit brown before it was changed.
I had similar problems with my transmission, and my advice is- DO NOT CONTINUE TO DRIVE IT. I did, and in the end I had to have my transmission rebuilt and it cost like a grand. I’m no mechanic so I really can’t tell you what the problem is, especially if it’s not leaking or anything, but if you keep driving it like that you’ll strip the gears. If you go get it fixed now, maybe it won’t be a major repair.
Did you check the old tranny fluid for metal shavings? You should also have smelled it to see if it had a burnt smell to it. I am also not a mechanic but I’ve owned plenty of clunkers, and either of these two symptoms are not good. And did you change the trans. filter when you changed the fluid? Unless you have a vacuum hose disconnected that should be attached to (the bottom?) of your transmission, you may be looking at a costly repair or replacement. What type of car is it? Chryslers and older Ford Taurus cars are notorious for bad transmissions. Also, how many miles are on your car?
It’s an older Ford Probe. I have about 65000 miles on it. It didn’t smell burnt, and from what I could tell it didn’t hve metal shavings on it, although I wasn’t looking specifically.
I think they changed the filter as well. I’m going to take it to a mechanic on Thursday. He tends to work cheap so I’m hoping it won’t run me too much.
Tommorow, I’m going to check to make sure the level of fluid is correct.
The thing that surprises me is that the car runds fine if I turn the OD off. I wonder if it isn’t something else, maybe a bad switch rather than the transmission itself.
The tranny almost certainly has an internal problem. The cure is an overhaul. The overhaul may (or may not) cost more if it’s done later, when worse symptoms arise. I would expect the repair to run at least 1,000.
It’s possible you may be able to drive it for quite a while with the OD switched off. But there’s always the risk of complete failure at any time, and higher repair cost then.
