transmission and temp question

1987 Oldsmobile with less than 130k (dont know actual mileage off the top of my head)

So I went out to reverse out of my parking stall today and had no reverse. Checked the fluid it was low which was weird because I have no leaks. So I decided instead of just topping it off I would drop the pan and change the filter Its been about 1.5yrs since Its been done.

When I dropped the pan the magnet was pretty clean there were no major signs of metal in the fluid just a bit. I changed the fluid and refilled with 1 bottle of lucas transmission fix and the rest regular fluid. Now I have full use of reverse but my car has a lag shifting from 25mph to 30. I don't know if the fluid needs time to work its way through because I only went around the block once but at first it slipped from 15mph to 30. I shifted through all the gears and the fluid is almost at the perfect level just about 1/8th of a quart off. I'll top it off in the morning before work.

Also my car wont tell me how hot the engine is. At startup when the dash cycles through its routine it shows the gauge works but as long as I've had the car it never showed me how warm the car was. Started bugging me because I had a little coolant loss (radiator hose basically popped) and I'm pretty sure my engine was running hott for at least 10 minutes luckily I had the radio off and heard a difference in my engine.

Any help is appreciated.

P.S. Is anyone else's search function not working? My advance search works but not quick search.

What do you want to know?

Lol guess I told a story instead of writing the questions. I was trying to ask if anyone thinks the slipping (if thats what it was will subside when the fluid works its way through.) Which I got the answer to today. It stopped slipping when I topped it off, I was afraid that I may have messed it up yesterday during the fluid change but all is well.


But the other question about engine temp is how do I fix it so it shows my temp. I'm afraid to go on a long drive until I figure that out. There has to be a sensor somewhere. I just cant find it and when I went into autozone site I get no returns when I search for engine temp sensor.

EDIT: Just found an temp switch. Is this the same thing?
Also found a coolant temp sensor, is this what I should be looking for?

bump

There should be a single wire temp sensor for the gage only, I believe it is on the intake, or the digital dash could be the problem, they were troublesome for sure.

hope its the sensor, the dash seems to work just fine. When I first start it up it cyclec through and the bar fills up and then goes back down. Do you know what the sensor is called?

I went to autozone and they just said its probably tied in with my coolant sensor because i told them about my low coolant every 10 seconds even though my coolant is topped off. I'll be changing that sensor on firday when I get paid.

Autozone huh, lucky they can read a clock! There is a seperate sensor for the coolant level in the radiator or coolant tank, unrelated here. There is a coolant temp sensor for the PCM, usuallly 2 wire, then there is a one wire sensor for the dash gage.

Okay so for my coolant problem my sensor is in the radiator about half-way down. Which sucks becuse if I'm ever really that low on coolant and I take it for another messed up sensor act I'll blow something. Found the coolant level sensor but I have to order it so it wont be done friday hopefully wednesday at the latest.

As for the coolant temp sensor autozone has both the 1 wire and the 2 wire. Should I just replace them both at once, or one at a time. If so which one do you think I should replace first?

Thanks for all the help.

1 wire is for the computer 1 wire is the gage your choice how you do it.

I'm going to go with the 2 wire first because I have to order it and since I'm ordering some other stuff that makes it just enough for free shipping :). Looking at the picture I've seen this plug before, can you give me a better idea of the location?

Should be near the 't'stat housing, also good pics at autozone.com, repair guides.

Thnx for the help when the piece arives I'll let everyone know how it goes.