Tranny Problem

My car is a 94 Mercury Tracer with 62,000miles (Auto).

Well, I'm having problems with shifting into 3rd and 4th gears. To shift into 3rd, it revs to like 5,000rpms. (week b4, it only took 3,000 rpm to shift up)
1st and 2nd gear shifts are fine. It also doesn’t make any noises when shifting.
Now, I'm not sure if the transmission fluid and filter been changed before. I believe the guy said that the fluid is burnt too…(From my local place)

When I took it to a transmission place, they said I need a new tranny. :\ But not sure if he is trying to my money.....

You think it could just need to have the fluid and filter changed?

Thanks.

Justin

sounds to me like the tranny has had a lot of abuse. i have a 90 mecury sable with 161,000 miles on it and she is just pluggin away. the bans are slipping, but nothin major yet. fluid and filter have absolutley nothing to do with the mechanics of the tranny. they help prevent wear over time, but once damage is done to the gearbox it cannot be undone by a simple lube job. rebuilding a tranny is relativley simple. just think of it as just nuts and bolts.

look at it this way.

if you abused the engine of a car and slightly bent the connecting rods, would an oil change fix it. i know it's slightly different, but it's also the same. fluids LUBRICATE.

one more thing. almost all mercurys have a shitty tranny design. i was told by a dealer mech. to run it with a half a quart high on the tranny fluid.

I respectfully say that 97camaroSS is mostly wrong and do not follow the advice in that post.
The auto transmission uses a hydraulic valve body to control shifting and shift points. They need clean fluid with sufficient hydraulic pressure to work properly.
The shifting will often become erratic if the fluid is very old and contaminated. A piece of grit may be stuck in one of the valves in the valve body and allowing it to not move properly.
The filter may be so clogged it may not be building sufficinet pressure, which affect shifting and also overheat the trans and burn the fluid.
I have owned 20 cars and a trans fluid and filter has corrected transmission problems about 60% of the time.

I recommed:
-Change the fluid and filter. Its much cheaper than a new trans.
-If the problem persists, check the modulator, governer and kick down linkage, if you have one. If that does not work, its time for a new trans.

Saddly changing transmission fuid rarely corrects the problems although it may eleviate the systoms for a period of time. In this case how ever I think a rebuild as soon as possible is in order