I noticed something while driving to Dallas earlier today. Was around 90 miles into the trip when I noticed my tranny slip @ near 90 mph. My RPMs shot up to 4 to 5K rpm and I had issues accelerating. Got off the freeway and parked @ a gas station. Popped the hood and noticed that car was overheating. Let the car cool off for 2 hours and checked all my fluid.

Tranny fluid was still red, and motor oil looked OK. Also the coolant level in radiator was fine. After the sun set down, eventually got back on the road. Did not go over 70 MPH, and kept rpms in 2K-2.5K range, and got to my destination with no issues. Popped hood again, yet no smoke coming out.

Essentially, what should be my next step tomorrow? Should I take her to a local dealer to look over the issue? I'm assuming I can drive back to Houston w/ no issues if I don't drive too fast. Just need some opinions.

Thanks

 

How long were you driving the car at 90 MPH ?? Doing that in the heat any longer then a few minutes might cause some issues untill it cools down again.

 

Was driving @ high speeds for a good twenty minutes or so before noticing the slip

 

You popped the hood and noticed it was overheating. What did the temperature gauge in the dash indicate?

Having a 2000, you may be another victim of bad transmission solenoids. There is a service bulletin about this and many people have had to change theirs.

 

Could be solenoids as Dennis pointed out, but also your transmission overheating. I experience a different type of issue when I would drive in the heat from Vegas to Los Angeles. Mine transmission would get stuck with the OD off. It wasn't slipping, but it would not shift into overdrive until I stopped for a while and it cooled down.

I added a transmission cooler, level 2 valvebody mod with new solenoids, and synthetic ATF. Never had the problem since....this was about 10 years and 210,000 miles ago.

For your case I would recommend doing a drain of the tranny and checking for metal debris or varnish. If you have overheating you may seen varnish buildup. If you have the money you might as well replace the solenoids while dropping the pan. I would also highly recommend synthetic ATF if you aren't using it already. You'll have to flush if you switchover to synthetic.

Consider adding a transmission cooler as well for added/cheap insurance.