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I got married and inherited my wife's automatic 97 Sebring (sold my 05 mustang gt to make financial room for our baby) and it's driving me insane.
She's had a problem with her transmission for a while now, but lately, it seems like it's getting worse.
What happens is, normally during cold starts (but will do it when warm) it slips out of gear. I put it into reverse, back out, and then into drive. From here, I have to gun the engine up to around 4k rpm for it to engage into drive. I'll travel about 100 feet and it'll slip out again. This happens around a dozen times before I exit my apartments, and continues most of the way to work.
It will also happen during a hard break, even if I'm moving 1-3 mph.
She's replaced the transmission fluid numerous times and we've been told by a family mechanic that there aren't any leaks (that he could find).
Is the transmission going bad? Do we need to replace? My mother offered to buy us a new tranny since we've got a 5 week old at home and can't exactly afford a $1000-1500 bill.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Have a good one.
Trouble was not the transmission, but a "solenoid
pack assembly". This little item was $204.00 plus
$88.50 labor at my local chrysler dealer.
The car now runs/shifts great.
Forward to Dec 2006 and my car won't pass emissions because a sensor is bad, and we can't get it to stay good long enough for the car to recalibrate and pass emissions. Mechanic told me the chips were covered in metal shavings and I needed a new tranny. Only cost me $1500 (he only charged me cost) and everything was fine - for about 2 weeks. First rainy day, we're back to being stuck in 2nd gear. Then it started a new trick with the spedometer all over the place. Left it with my mechanic 2 times in July - once for a while week so they could really delve into it. Could find no reason why the sensors go bad, but he didn't charge me a dime for the week he had it because he didnt' fix the problem.
Left it at a dealer (mistake!) last night and got a call that it needs an input and output sensor. No kidding! That's what I told the girl when I made the appt. They can find nothing wrong, and even checked to see if the computer was bad. Right now all they can tell me is they will replaces the sensors to the tune of $240 - much more than my mechanic will charge. They are going to keep it for a few days and drive it and see if they can get the sensors to fail.
At this point, I can't get the car to correct itself like I used to, I've been on highways doing 65 mph and the car will drop into 2nd gear and all of a sudden I'm redlining. This is ridiculous and not too safe. I can be cruising along fine, and then I give the car a bit more gas and bam! into 2nd gear. Any time I have to stop, it's anybody's guess as to what gear it will pick - sometimes 1st, sometimes 3rd.
I have no idea how to fix ANYHING under the hood but could do anything simple if told how..
Has anyone else had this issue? I really dont want to buy a new tranny. The car only has 85k miles on it. Any help? the more detailed the better...
Call around and see if there's a local transmission shop that will run a diagnostic check. My daughter's Neon trans was acting up one year and I would have sworn it needed to be replaced.
I found a reputable shop who agreed to check it for her at no charge. It turned out to be an inexpensive module that cost less than $100 parts and labor to replace.
I have a 96 sebring convertible and it has been having shifting problems. I will list the issues below
- when stopping quickly it will fall into neutral...shifting to neutral and back in gear fixes the problem
- Other times when stopping it will fall into a gear and just not come out of that gear...If i turn the car off and then turn it right back on it will drive fine.
If driving on the interstate or going good where only minor shifting is done between one or two upper gears it is perfectly fine...but like i said above...stopping quickly or more than a nice slow stop causes it to fall out of gear...basically it seems that it cant downshift quick enough.
I took it to a transmission place and after he looked at it he said it needed a new transmission...Im just wondering if it could be something else simple like a sensor or computer problem and he is just trying to screw me.
anyone else have this problem or have any ideas?
Thanks!
My daughter's Neon transmission "went out" on her one year. She thoiught it was going to be an expensive repair. It turned out to be just a bad sensor and about $100 worth of parts and labor.
Good luck
Welcome back :-)
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Need help getting around? claires@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
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Thnx for everything AL
Thanx
again
AL
Auto trans overhauled (under warranty) approx 30k miles ago, with no problems until today.
Trans repair business speculated that debris was clogging filter, causing fluid flow to be blocked.
Is this something I can fix? Or, MUST I take it in for overhaul / rebuild?
current budget is EXTREMELY limited, cant afford $1500 overhaul/rebuild.
MANY thanks,
david
I pulled the door panel off to see if I could see what had happened and I'm still at a loss. There are only a few viewing holes in the door, you can't actually see much of the window mechanism without taking it out.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix it? Also, does anyone know how to remove the glass. I was thinking if I removed it and re-inserted it, if it was out of a track somewhere, that might fix it. Also, I think there must be a way to adjust where it stops.
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Need help getting around? claires@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
Tell everyone about your buying experience: Write a Dealer Review
guy at place the 1sttime he referbed it him self stuck back in my car lool with wrong ring spacer they used 2nd gear screwed up sifted all over hell was nuts and scary till i made his dumb head take it back out get me new1 like i wanted paid for 1st time lol says ok if it works dont o me nothing said ok it worked perfect he dint even know says are u master mechinic says no i reserch thats all use common sence so since then 2 yrs ogo pe4erfect now also 1sttiem he used dextron i thought that did it so i yelled at him he put in atf 3 fuilds like should have done u know but that still shifted it bad then i said what kinda soiniod body above trainy u stick on ther referb one he says ya admitted it i told him i want dam new one so he did it perfect since cars are picky and the whipers can cuse u issses anther story tho
1. Start car, usually goes into reverse just fine ...then...
2. Apply brake to shift into drive, I see RPM's climb but no forward movement, like I was stuck in neutral.
3. Wait like 10 seconds, car will go into gear and move forward with a loud clunk noise and feeling like car has been hit, shakes the whole car.
4. Every time I stop the car at a stop sign or stop light this will happen.
I thought this would only happen when engine is cold but it has happened after warm up as well.
I added more fluid (yes the RIGHT kind...), problem went away for a week, now it's back. I know fluid is not the problem.
I am very frustruated. I think djdrummernick already posted the solution to this problem but I can not understand his directions because my English is not so good.
If this is a sensor problem, which sensor and where is it located. If this is a solenoid problem, how do I do that? I've never had a car this new before, so I don't know anything about the computer stuff.
Please help...thank you.
things that go bad on convertables are
1 crank sensor ---will stall out whole car nasty
2 soiniod body on trainy cuuse shifting to go nuts act up like crazy
3 alsywas ue mopAR atf 3 -4 fluids only
4 use gator back belts when u change yours out best to buy
5 k and n air filters are bestto use if u cant buy fram 2nd best
6 visor clips on ebay 7 bucks
7 greesE ethe doors and hindgeses often silcon spary
8 black majic on dash wet in black for tires best sparys i found step 3 mequires wax best with micro fiber towles to dry your car
9 in out sensor above oil filter will cuse car to show oil red light presuure light on off fulty change that part with mopar only nothing else fits i know this
10 wann add a sub best bet mtx 1 10 in sledge hammer 5500 or 7500 IN CUSTUM BOX THEY COME IN best bet with kenwood x491 or higher for sterio gear 6x9s all way throw with new wires direct to speakers bypass onbord amp can cuse destorion on aftermarket radios
11 keep it clean USE power OUT BY TURLE WAX u can use on carpets u can use engine degresor make moter shine breath stay clean once a yr on nice warm day only not in winter
12 rip seats or top tearing away form window go buy black gorlia tape bets stuff to use its holding mine in to i get new one geart tape for cars fabric in such
13 get oil changed ever 2500 miles i use 10w30 on my v6 2.5 qs good for now i love that new delco double filter oil stays cleaner longer only 3 bucks more ask for it
14 change battery with only hi end gold ser 800 cold cranking amps or more its on driver s side wheel well take tire off then remove black cover then install new one there thats can be pain in [non-permissible content removed] but ever 4 yrs gotta do it this car needs power mequires lether lotion on car seats works best dont slide gold class one in that
thx for reading just take car of it DONT RAM YOUR RPMS UP PAST 3 IN HALF LOW LOW NOT RACE CAR REMBER THIS AND IT WILL LAST U LONG TIEM NICE CARS IF U CAN TAKE CARE OF IT AND DONT DRIVE LIKE MANIAC K THX NICK HELPAP
The solution was to have the dealer change and recalibrate the transmission control module. You are looking at a bill of around $200 for the part and $200 more for labor. The don't need to drop the pan to do this. You may have trouble finding the part at an after market dealer like NAPA. For them, it is a non-stock special order with a price tag of $252. It would have to be shipped here (CT) from
California. The dealer did the job in a few hours and everything is working fine.