Tranny Problem help before i buy

I got a 95 talon with 98 engine in it. non-turbo. automatic tranny.I am getting ready to buy a trans but want to make sure its not something easy to fix.

Ok the problem is The tranny is very sluggish after it warms up. when i got the car it was sluggish and would not go in reverse and was very slow in forward its almost like the brake is on and preventing it from going. I figured i would do a fluid and filter change and add lucas. After doing this the car worked ok until it warmed up. i was able to go forward and in reverse fine for about 15 minutes, once the car warmed up it would go slow again.

Any idea or should i just go with new/used tranny.

thank you

Drain the fluid again and replace the filter. This time, do NOT add anything else except tranny fluid. Lucas additive may be causing the problem.

Well this seems interesting to me... Since when do people put Lucas oil in automatic trannys? Or do they now have a special brand for automatics?

To me it doesn't sound like a tranny issue at all. I mean, in some strange way it could be a problem, but I bet its the motor. Give the whole thing a well rounded tune up. New plugs, wires, change oil and filter, change air filter, change tranny fluid and filter, (do not add anything else to it this time) change PCV valve, change fuel filter... Hmmm, thats all I can really think of right now off the top of my head real quick here.

But I would try all that before going and spending a ton of money on a new/used tranny.

:2cents:

I started doing the tune up when i noticed a sensor of some sort disconnected from the back of the motor. It is located right next to the tranny on the back of the engine. From what i can see in my chilton is shows that it is a cruise control sensor but i am not sure. chilton uses alot of drawings as aposed to haynes book. Any one have an idea of what it is or if that may be causing my problem?

Again This is a 98 a/t Non turbo



To help visualize the sensor. if your looking at the back of the engine(tranny to your left) There is three sensors you can see good. One is on top of the oil filter, the second is about 6 inches to the left of that one in the middile of the engine. and the one that was disconnected is about 6 inches left of that one.

I checked my Haynes manual and I couldn't find what that could be... I'm also having a hard time trying to visualize where its at still... We need David to get in this thread, he knows the 420A motor inside out... He will be able to help us out here. I'll throw him a PM about this thread to see if he knows what it might be for.

The one on the top of the oil filter is the crank position sensor. To the left of that (if looking at the back of the engine, tranny to the left), is the knock sensor. That sits about right in the middle of the block. Farther left to that is the low oil sensor. That's the closest to the tranny, and its higher up on the block.

The oil sender will only throw the dummy light on the dash if the oil is low. Mines been disconnected for awhile now. It doesn't throw any CELs or anything. Barely even needed if you check your oil all the time.

The cruise control is only located on the passenger side, right past the intake manifold. All the sensors and everything are right there. So if you're looking on the drivers side, there are nothing relating to the cruising control there except for the actual throttle cable from the gas pedal.

The one on the top of the oil filter is the crank position sensor. To the left of that (if looking at the back of the engine, tranny to the left), is the knock sensor. That sits about right in the middle of the block. Farther left to that is the low oil sensor. That's the closest to the tranny, and its higher up on the block.

The oil sender will only throw the dummy light on the dash if the oil is low. Mines been disconnected for awhile now. It doesn't throw any CELs or anything. Barely even needed if you check your oil all the time.

The cruise control is only located on the passenger side, right past the intake manifold. All the sensors and everything are right there. So if you're looking on the drivers side, there are nothing relating to the cruising control there except for the actual throttle cable from the gas pedal.
Thank you Dave. :thumbsup:

Hope that helps ya, neilmac78...

did the oil and tranny fluid change, new plugs, wires, coil pack, pcv,fuel and air filter, still same way. still moves very slow then frees up, when i stop it does it all over again. i have to put the pedal to the floor just to get it going. almost like it was bogging then clears up and it drives( not fast but it goes)

could it be a tranny pc problem or torque converter. is there a way to test the three sensors on the tranny?

What three sensors on the tranny? There's the backup light switch, which is located on the front, in front of the battery. There's then an actual sensor under the battery tray, which is your speedometer connection. It's really not even a sensor, it's just like a little gear. I don't know what's the third one you're talking about.

If you put the car in neutral and rev, does it rev up fine? It's a free-flowing engine then, so if it revs fine, then it will be something in the actual drivetrain then.

yes it revs fine.
there are 4 sensor type units 1 is the transaxle range switch, 2 is the output speed sensor, 3 is the input speed sensor and the forth is solenoid and pressure switch. I took them out and all look fine.

i guess i will just have to get a new tranny.


Thanks, everyone that helped.

i got a question.

i was getting ready to send the car to the shop to get a tranny put in. but before i did this i wanted to see some thing.

i decided to dissconnect the solenoid pack from the tranny and try manualy shifting the tranny. L-2-D

it is alittle slugish to start but after that it goes good, real good, even after it warms up. reverse is still slugish but alittle better after warm up.


now the question. could it be the solenoid pack?
again its a 1995 with 98 a/t non-turbo

Auto trannys are not my thing. However, replacing that is still cheaper than getting a new tranny. Give it a try.

not mine either my dohc neon 5 spd tranny is going along with alot of other problems so i decided to turn the talon into my new project now. the talon has been sitting for 3 years so there is bound to be more problems.


i will get the solenoid


thanks for the input

Your problem sounds alot like my 98 3000GT SL automatic tranny, turned out to be my fuel pump and filter. Car would act sluggish warm up a bit then drive great then act like it hd the brakes on. Then sometimes it would not start, I pull the neg batt cable off for 15mins crank up and go for awhile. Haynes and Chilton are OK but see if you can find a set of the shop manuals, alot better.

ok, this is what i have done so far since the first post..

1)new oil filter with fresh oil
2) new tranny fluid with fresh filter
3) new coil pack, wires, and plugs
4) new fuel filter
5) new solenoid pack
6) new air filter
7) unhook cat to check air low

Since first posting the problem then doing these changes the car has been a little better.

What it is doing now still is going forward it starts out slow but comes right out of it slump and goes fine, shifts nice everything.

Reverse it seems to be better. what happens in reverse is if i put it in reverse and DONT step on the gas it goes fine but the minute i try to give it gas it starts to bog down(oposite forward when i hit the gas in forward it comes out of sluggish mode and drives fine)

I asked my machanic and he doesn't seem to think its a bad tranny. I just dont wanna send it to a shop and it be something easy that i can do.

I have a set of input/output sensors that i am picking up tomorrow but just wanted to see if anyone had an idea about this problem now. Would the tranaxle range switch be bad? ecu? it just does not seem like the trans is bad do to it driving fine after it gets out of the sluggish mode.

When you say it's "sluggish and bogs down", do the rpms raise and the car just doesn't go (like a bad clutch in a manual car), or do the rpms actually "bog" down? I'm confused as to what the actual problem is here. If the rpms go up and down normally but the car doesn't go anywhere, that's something in the tranny, but if the engine rpms actually bounce around when the "bogging" occurs, then it's most likely an engine problem.

When the seals in the tranny were going out in my Eclipse, when I put it in drive the car would not move, but if i gave it a little bit of gas it would sort of "jerk" into gear and drive fine from there. But if yours starts out fine with no gas and then once you give it gas, that leads me to believe the torque converter is possibly locked up or not working correctly. But then again, it's a DSM, you could just have a reverse light burned out :D

when going in reverse the rpm's stay at about 2,000-2,500 with out gas and with gas. in forward it just slowly goes then just free's up at goes fine , no jerking or anything like that. the other thing i notice it it shifts gear at around 5 grand. but i am not sure if this is normal for the talon/eclipse. i have had the car sitting for 3 years and never have driven this eclipse or any other.

it shift fine it to gear no jerking or anything like that. forward seems go get better after warm-up but reverse is the same whether its warm or cold