Auto-tranny problem?

I have a 94 Dodge Stealth, and all in all it is running very well. Just last Friday it started to down shift very hard. It shifts fine when accelerating. The car only has 70,000 miles on it, and everything else is working fine. Tranny fluid is full, and clean.

Could this be electrical? It does have the pathetic OD switch, and power/economy switch. It just happened so fast that I find it hard to believe it is mechanical? But then again, I’m getting used to being wrong when it comes to cars of late. :mad:

Thanks for any help!

You may just need to change the tranny fluid. It is actually recommended to be done every 30k miles.

does it happen every time?

Do you know when the last time the tranny filter has been replaced? If you dont know, i would go ahead and change out the filter (its a little on the pricey side from the dealership, i think around $35 for the filter if i remember correctly) and put brand new fluid in there. If you do the own work to your car, its not hard to change out the filter. Jack your car up and put it on jack stands, then drain out all the fluid from your transmission pan. Once its drained, get out a 10mm socket wrench and nut driver. Brake the bolts loose around the tranny pan with the socket wrench, and then unscrew them with the nutdriver.

Once you get all the bolts off, the pan still might be stock on there from the gasket, so just hit it (not too hard) with a rubber mallet or some other similar object. Expect more tranny fluid to come out when the pan comes off cause you cant drain every last bit. After you get the pan off, the filter is right there. Break the 4 bolts loose that hold the old filter on with the 10 mm socket wrench then unscrew them with the nut driver (note: you can still use a socket wrench for all this, but a nut driver makes things faster and easier). Just bolt the new one back in place.

Now i would inspect the current gasket to see if its reusable. If not, either buy a new gasket from the dealership, or go to you local auto store and buy some silicon gasket maker, I use this stuff for my tranny pan everytime i have to make some readjustments on my shift kit. If you go the gasket maker route, which would be cheaper, apply it 1/8 inch thick all the way around the pan, then put the pan back up and get a couple of bolts in there, but dont tighten them down ALL THE way. Tighten them down almost all the way so that the silicon gasket maker and pan is in contact all the way around the tranny. I'd then wait about 3 hours or so for drying time, and then tighten everything back down all the way. I'd then wait a total of 12-24 hours to add fluid and then add 8 quarts of dexron murcon III or however you spell it ATF, and checking for leaks while adding the fluid. This method is the best for what i have found to not have any leaks of tranny fluid.

Anyways, hope this helps and saves you installation fees if you want to tackle it yourself.