transmission problem

i have a 92 dodge shadow with an automatic trans. all of a sudden a few weeks back it wouldn't go into reverse when the car was cold. along with this, it was having problems going into third gear. this also was at its worst when the car was cold. so i tried changing the transmission fluid. i did not notice an abnormal amount of shavings in the bottom of the pan. after changing the fluid, reverse has never failed me again. but i'm still having trouble getting into third. ive noticed that by bringing it up to 4000 rpms and taking my foot off the gas usually gets it to switch. now that the weather is getting colder even that method is started to get worse. fluid levels are fine. any ideas on if i need a new trans or possibly something may be sticking? any help would be appreciated!

Sounds to me like your tranny is crapping out on you. I had a car a long time ago that pretty well did the same thing , would not move at all when the tranny was cold, had to let it warm up or rev it up high so the pressure would build up in the tranny, but that is not good. Damn near had teh car jump off of the ground once when it finally caught. As for the shavings , a little is normal , a lot is not.

Yea I have to agree with kenny...the th350 in my truck was doing that and then about a week later it left me stuck in the middle of an intersection. It sounds like the clutch bands in it are just so worn out that they are slipping and not engaging...now if you are feeling frisky and have a 12 pack of beer (and will not feel to bad if you mess it up) you could try to rebuild the transmission (about 100 bux for the kit), or if you wanna ride on the safe side you can just have it rebuilt ($500-up depending on the tranny)...Also if you want, you can carry around a bottle of brake fluid with you if the tranny starts slipping really badly and you are away from home, just pour the brake fluid in there...what this will do is cause the seals and bands to swell up and will temporarily fix it..BUT I WARN YOU THIS IS ONLY TEMPORARY AND I DONT NOT TAKE RESPONCIBILITY FOR DAMAGES...IT WILL JUST GET YOU HOME SO YOU CAN HAVE THE TRANSMISSION REBUILT...hope things go well

Posted by soccerguymi - 11-28-2004 at 12:05 AMi have a 92 dodge shadow with an automatic trans. all of a sudden a few weeks back it wouldn't go into reverse when the car was cold. along with this, it was having problems going into third gear. this also was at its worst when the car was cold. so i tried changing the transmission fluid. i did not notice an abnormal amount of shavings in the bottom of the pan. after changing the fluid, reverse has never failed me again. but i'm still having trouble getting into third. ive noticed that by bringing it up to 4000 rpms and taking my foot off the gas usually gets it to switch. now that the weather is getting colder even that method is started to get worse. fluid levels are fine. any ideas on if i need a new trans or possibly something may be sticking? any help would be appreciated!

The problem is in the direct clutch housing. Those clutches are applied in both reverse and third gear only. The reason reverse is still seeming to be working is because in reverse not only the direct clutches are applied but also the low-reverse band/clutches (depending on trans model) is appled. Now your basically only relying on the band/low-reverse clutches to take up all the slack for reverse. Probably won't be long before reverse starts going away again. The band won't be able to hold up the preasure all by itself alone in reverse for long (depending on driving conditions of course, miles, type of driving...). Internal problem, sorry.