shifting prob
 

i live in illinois and it is pretty cold here right now and for the past couple of weeks i have noticed that my car won't shift out of first gear when the engine is cold. it finally shifts about 30 secs to a min later but i don't know what is wrong. i have also dropped in gas mileage to getting roughly 200 miles per tank of gas

mine did that a couple months ago. take your car in to a Meineke or somewhere elese and get your transmission system flushed out, and some new tranny fluid put in. after a while it will shift smooth and you shouldnt have a problem.

^^^^ Yes, the first step is to flush the trans. Make sure you take it to a shop that uses the machine to do it. Not just drain and fill, as that will only get 2 1/2 qts. out.

The machine method cleans insides with a mild chemical then removes all the old oil, and reloads with all new oil.

after i get the fluid changed will it effect the bad gas mileage

what about the gas mileage

I seriously doubt it will effect the MPG. That is more an engine running condition relationship.

the engine runs fine though

Well, if the 'lockup' torque converter is not locking up, it will lower your mpg.

One way to check is to drive the car normally with the OD off. Feel the shifts, 1-2, 2-3, then watch the rpms, and see if they drop 2-300 at around 40mph.

You might even feel it. or hear the engine tone drop a tiny bit.

if you can't tell after trying it a few times, your's may not be locking up.

okay. i'll try that and see what happens

Any status on this???

I have the same prob. Let us know the status!!

I wouldnt waste your time. I would go right away and have your tranny fluid flushed and changed.

You dont wanna screw up your transmission.

do i need to do a full flush with only 50,000 miles on the car

Its recommended but you dont have to. If the trans has over 100,000 miles on it and its never been done, I wouldnt even touch the fluid. Chances are that's what's holding it together.

This is very true. I used to rebuild trannys. New oil will clean out all the sludge and varnish, and then it will start leaking oil.

We use the BG chemicals and flush at my shop, with the machines. But we won't do one that has a whole lot of miles on the oil.

In these cases, I'd just do it the old fashion way, and change the filter, and reload with oil. You'll only be changing 2.5 qts that way.

so its not good to change the oil of the tranny if its been 100k miles well my car has about 109798miles on it and i dont know if the original owner ever changed it so the best for me is to just change filter and reload on oil..

my car runs fine now and the temperature is in the 30s to 40s. i think it didn't shift right because it was so cold. some days it got to 30 below zero. i'll just do a drain and fill and see what happens

Reason I asked was was that when my tranny is cold in the AM, it takes a while to warm up, then finally shift correctly. However, now it intermittantly just disengages all together. RPM's go flying up with no tranny response. Pulling the car over and shutting it down for a few minutes takes care of this. I'm gonna pull the codes off the tranny later and hope for the best. I am guessing that I have a fouled 2nd or OD shift solenoid. 133K miles. I've drained and re-filled 2 qt. method 4 times, and cleaned the filter screen. Hardly any shavings on the magnets. Just a little bit of fine gray metal dust.
Anyone near Phoenix got a good auto tranny??

wait...so if the transmission has never been flushed for over 100k miles, you just dont change the oil? well that sucks haha. what should you do instead, if you cant change the transmission oil, to make sure the transmission will run as well as it can?

Well, checked error codes. Nothing but a single blinking O/D Off light. I noticed my battery connections are all corroded over. I'm gonna clean those up real good this week-end. Will it help? Don't know. But it aint gonna hurt. Wish me luck!

I'd like to know, too. I've been having really hard shifting when I try to get up to 55 mph fast to get onto the highway. I gotta slam the gas and then let up quickly to make it shift. It's been going on since I got the car running again...

Many, many times I have to re-read (or skim back thru) an entire thread to find the info.

But here......

In these cases, I'd just do it the old fashion way, and change the filter, and reload with oil. You'll only be changing 2.5 qts that way.

So this method is not likely to cause the trans to disentigrate in the driveway.

i assume its just that simple haha. thanks. oil filter, right? ill look around for a guide on how to change your transmission fluid yourself, instead of going to a shop to do it...theres bound to be one around here somewhere.

Just buy a trans filter kit from any parts store ($20-30).
Get a can of brake spray cleaner, a roll of teflon tape, a wire wheel (for drill motor), wire toothbrush, and a tube of silicone gasket sealer/maker, and 3-4 qts of Dextron III.

Drain the oil from the trans pan (remove the plug, save the gasket), then remove the pan, gasket, and then the filter.

Install new filter, clean off old gasket from pan with drill motor and wire wheel (or bench grinder with wire wheel on it), and then trans casing (with wire toothbrush if needed, and rag).

Brake spray cleaner works good for the 'final' cleaning of oil and stuff off the parts.

From experience, I strongly suggest applying a "very thin" (but complete) layer of silicone adhesive to both sides of the new gasket.

Lay gasket on pan, matching up the holes, then install pan onto the trans case. Install all the bolts finger tight. Then use the ratchet and lightly tighten them in a pattern that skips along every-other-bolt. This will 'draw' the pan evenly to the case.

I always place the socket extension between my pointer and middle fingers, so as to not over tighten the bolts.

Make 3-4 passes (like torqueing a headgasket) to draw them down firmly, but not real tight.

Remember, you have a soft gasket between the metal parts, and you don't want to over-tighten it, and squeeze it out much.

Now wrap teflon tape around the threads of the drain plug, 2-3 x. Install plug and tighten very firmly.

Add 2 qts of trans fluid, then start the engine and let idle in 'park'.

Check the level, then shift into reverse, then drive, then back to park. Top up the fluid level. Done.

I recommend that, in a month or 2, drain the fluid (from the plug), and top back up. This will eventually change out all the fluid over a years time.

This method will be the least amount of 'potential' harm you could do to the trans, and yet give you new oil.

After that, its up to you. Now I change out 2.5 qts every 6 months. It always stays red, and I don't have any shifting troubles.

Before you go any further, is the car you're getting manual or automatic?

tis an automatic. i should probably put all the info about it in my profile.

thanks for the oil change guide, i really appreciate it. ill just get my dad to read it over when the time comes to show me where everything is and help me with it. to be honest, im hyped about planning on installing the exhaust myself =D itll be a good feeling when i finish it.

Just making sure, lol. All that info would've been useless if it was manual. And its always a great feeling to add an upgrade to the car yourself.

ah...well thanks for clarifying :) i appreciate it.

cant wait til tomorrow night-ish...hopefully the other stupid kid will totally not buy the car and he'll sell it to ME :-D otherwise ill have to find another supra. there aint no way im buying something else after test driving it.

Should you change the differential fluid too when you change the tranny fluid? Idk if my tranny fluid was ever changed so I'm going to risk it and change it and i was wondering about the differential fluid. My 87 supra is a turbo with standard shift and LSD.

Most definately change the diff oil. Easy to do. I do it every 30k. I use Amsoil diff oil with good success.