areXseven

iTrader: (1)

Last week my Transmission started to slip a bit during 1st to 2nd gear shift. The problem seemed to go away after turning the engine off for a minute and turning it back on. I thought It was a bad solenoid or modulator problem. I had checked the fluid level and it was right on. After a few days, the tranny would go into a "neutral mode" during acceleration, like when you press the clutch in a manual tranny and rev the engine up. I thought for sure the tranny or torque converter was dying on me.

I decided to have the filter and fluid changed before I made up my mind to buy another auto tranny,..or do the 5 speed swap. I woke up early Friday to drive the car to the tranny shop BUT the car didn't want to move when I engaged it into gear, ..ANY GEAR!! The tranny, I thought, was completely gone. I had to have it towed to the shop. WHAT A WAY TO START THE DAY.

Well, it turns out that the car just needed to have the filter and fluid changed. The Filter was completeley clogged and there was a lot of sludge on the bottom of the pan. The car is now running great. The car/tranny/chassis has 130K on it and I'm guessing the tranny filter/fluid had never been changed by the previous owners.

SO,...for all you fellow Auto FD owners, have your filter/fluid changed before you give-up on your transmission slippage problem and decide to replace it with another one. It might save you a lot of money and headaches.

purerx7

iTrader: (61)

I believe the general rule of thumb was to change filter and fluid every 30k at most, im sure someone correct me but I read that somewhere. Wow 130k without changing, im suprised it lasted that long.

93BlackFD

all fluids are changed every 30k

areXseven

iTrader: (1)

I've only driven the car 5300 miles since buying it last May 03. I didn't realize the previous owners were so careless.