MikeB

My '98 has 132k and this weekend on the highway it jumped in and out of overdrive many times within the space of an hour. It happened going about 55mph . No matter what I did with shift button, it would pop back to OD light off , and the revs came up too. I stopped checked fluid, clearish pink, not burnt smell, and level okay. One thing worried me too, earlier I hit a curb in the blasted roundabout on ice, and dinged a steel rim. and I had a slightly diff. tire on (regular SE ) whl -55 series, vs 65 snow. You would think you could drive like on the doughut spare for awhile w/o harming things. Any case put the snow whl back up front to match the other, and still the same. Stopped then decided to drive home and it didn't repeat. Trans shop today says it's my torque cvt, fluid smells /looks bad ? and it's about 2-3 big bills, which is tragic alright. No codes . I suspected tq cvt too, I didn't try the power brake test, but I will now. Going to a different shop. If it's all that I would rather swap a good used one or go 5 speed, having done that in a VW, but don't relish the idea, esp. in winter.

densetsu

iTrader: (1)

that sucks, it does sound like the torque converter is shot, i would say convert to five speed but i would have never bought an auto in the first place so i guess my opinion is slightly biased. good luck, its not too bad in the winter, wear layers of thermals and get a heater and some gloves and tough it out

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

yeah my man, my tranny's goin too. 173,000 and a used one is gonna run me 1,200.00 as opposed to a rebuild for 2,000.00. i figure all i did to her might as well keep her for another 2-3 years, maxima gods permitting. i aint got the $$$ right now either, gonna have to scrape up some quick cash. allready found a tranny for maxy, 66,000 miles. join the high mileage club......good luck

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

That sounds like an electrical problem with the OD OFF button. Could be a short or freyed wires. When a trans goes bad, the OD OFF light doesn't come on. The only time that light comes on is when you manually put the system into OD OFF mode. In that mode, the trans acts as a 3 speed auto.

If thats what happending, I'd be looking at the switch and wires from the shifter leading to the trans controller, not the actual trans itself.

MikeB

I hope you are right, that does make some sense. I just powerbraked the car and it went to 2400 or so, maybe it could go a little higher, that sounds about right, warm engine,also tested acceleration on the flat, and it was very good. What's also weird is I drove the car another 100 miles without a repeat, and it hasn't done it today. I disagree with the shop, imho the fluid doesn't smell burnt and it's a very light pink color. I think I have a spare shifter too, thanks.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Even running with low fluid to the point where it jumps down to 3rd, it wouldn't activate the OD Off indicator...unless it was flashing. It wasn't, was it?

MikeB

No it flashed on and the trans shifted down into 3rd then back to OD light went out. The shop I went to today, didn't find any codes, no OD flashing when I start it. I do kind of notice a low idle at times , but that could be a number of things . My Coolant temp. sensor is likely out, as it won't start w/o a little gas. i have the sensor ready to put in when this happened. hasn't repeated yet.