The last few weeks my '93 SE (131,000 mi) has been shifting at about 4,000 no matter what setting I had the A/T switch at and no matter how soft I would push the gas pedal. Then I went on a road trip of about 6 hours each way this past weekend and during the first part of the trip the car would not stay in overdrive. Even with the smallest hill it would shift out of overdrive. About holf way home, after going up a hill it wouldn't even shift back into overdrive. It didn't matter if the O/D button was pushed or not. So basically I had to drive at 70 mph at 3500 rpm for the rest of the drive home. Is my tranny done for or what? Thanks in advance for advice.

 

Have you checked your trans fluid yet?

 

Yeah, right after the overdrive stopped working I stopped for gas and checked the fluid level then, it was fine. By the way I just had the tranny flushed last spring.

 

Darn I was hoping you had an easy fix.
the trans flush killed your trans.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure you're right because I had an '89 GXE before this that my grandpa then my dad and then I owned and it had 250,000 on it and never had the tranny fluid changed and I eventually sold it to my cousin and it still is running perfect without ever having the fluid changed. So my advice to people is DO NOT change your fluid ever!!!

 

So no one else has any advice for me?? Should I call it quits with this car since I could get another for the same price as fixing it? How much longer do I have on this tranny before it's shot?

 

Well the tranny already is shot.
I'd drive it until I couldn't stand it anymore, all the while looking for another SE to either donate it's good trans or to just swap all my good stuff into.

 

How does flushing the fluid screw the tranny??

 

Because, it loosens up all of the old trash that had been holding together the parts and VIOLA' everything starts to leak, and slip because the loose stuff is now gone, and the other stuff is now loose.

 

That's what happened to my tranny. Still looking for a SE VG donor to do the 5sp swap. Just drive the hell out of it while you look for a replacement or a tranny car

 

So the only tranny that will fit my car is one from another 92-94 SE right, since it's a DOHC. None from any other SE or any GXEs will work?

 

yup same thing happend to my moms villager. it lost overdrive then had the trany flushed it lost 2nd right after that. pretty hard to drive an auto with only 1st and 3rd

 

That's why shops love em.
They get to sell you a trans later.

 

Will someone correct me if I'm wrong please. If I do a 5-spd swap it doesn't matter the motor in the car just as long as it's a manual transmission? But if I stick with automatic it has to be from a VE? Or no matter which it has to be from an SE with a VE

 

You have the VE engine so the transmission has to come from 93-94 SE with a VE engine. It doesn't matter wether you stick with auto or you convert to 5sp.

 

yeah, my friend had his tranny flushed, like 3 weeks later he completely lost first gear, then od, then his higher gears like 4th. Now he has to get it rebuilt and stuff. its all messed up. thats why i refuse to change my fluid, im afraid to lose my tranny.

 

OK this might help clear things up:

if you have a 89 - 91 se or an 89-94 gxe, you have to get a vg tranny, automatic or stick.

if you have a 92-94 se you have to get a ve tranny wheter its automatic or stick, kinda what i think Seyath was saying

 

Hi,

could i change the fluid in my max for the tranny?

if i change the fluid for my tranny, will my max have any problems?

 

theres a good chance that you could lose your tranny and then you will end up paying for a new tranny. I know a few people who have tranny flushed and then like 3 months later they had to start pricing new trannys. IMO i would'nt cause i am afraid to lose my tranny. like internetautomar said:

 

I would just LOVE to do the 5-spd swap, but I wouldn't know nearly enough to attempt that myself. Chilton's of course doesn't show it and I doubt the FSM does. And I figure labor for someone else to do it I'm sure would be near as much as a a new tranny or a rebuild. It's too bad no one has made a how-to with pictures yet........

 

There's a big difference in CHANGING your tranny fluid (recommended) and FLUSHING (not recommended) your tranny fluid. Flushing, as internetautomar said, will loosen up all sorts of crap in the tranny and then maybe wash it into one or more of the hundreds of tiny passageways possibly plugging some of those passages. Those passages are what control shifting. Just dropping the pan and draining the fluid will not harm your tranny, you just won't get a full change of fluid like you will with a flush since the torque convertor will still hold fluid. On my Dodge truck I also loosen the valve body bolts which then drains a bunch more fluid. Never did that on my Max but it would probably work just as well.

 

The dodge uses a metal seperator plate without a paper gasket so you can do this. Be carefull doing this on any other vehicle, once the bolts are loosened and the valve body is seperated from the trans housing you have to replace the paper gasket as it will tear and give you internal leakage. NO GOOD.

 

Good point on the gasket for our Max's. Won't be doing that.