Tranny Fail-Safe Mode, HELLLPP!!!!!!

Just got my 96' LHS for cheap. Great car, love every bit of it. But I got it cheap from a good friend because of a problem. Its in Fail-Safe mode or whatever its called. It happened when it was towed up an icy hill, it was accidentally left in low gear. After that, all the gear lights from Park to Low were lit up and the car only has Park, Reverse, Neutral, and 2nd Gear in Drive, 3rd, and Low. (therefore obviously, not shifting to reduce the chance of the car fucking itself up worse).
What do I do?
I will have it hooked up to the ODB II to see what code its throwing soon, but I dont know if (if i can) i should just have the fail-safe reset and whatever sensor that tripped fixed or should i actually have the tranny dropped and looked at?! I am tight on cash right now too so its a pain in the ass.
Anybody else dealt with this? Talk.

There is many many reasons why the transmission can have only 2nd gear. Usually, but not always, when the transmission itself is defective. It will "try" to operate more than just 2nd gear. (limp-mode) like 1st gear then limp mode and such. But there are some big variables there too. It sounds like an electronics problem. A scanner, either reading codes or data, should point you in the right direction. Think of it like this. When there is no power to the transmission, thats all you have is second gear and reverse. Because the solenoids are shut off. On these models anyways...

im pretty sure it operates in 2nd only, no signs of trying to go into first. when i put the shifter in drive, 3rd, or low all i get is 2nd. all the shifter lights are lit up (from Park to Low, all the lights are lit).
i dont think the tranny is defective, its driven 116k without signs of problems. it put itself into this mode only after being pulled up a hill hitched to a truck while in gear (nobody was in the car giving it gas, it was just at an idle while the shifter was in Low gear). after that it went into fail-safe mode.
another thing. it may be a loose sensor or something, i have NO idea what is going on with this one but i hit a hell of a gas station curb (you know how those can get sometimes) and the shift lights 'kind of' fixed themselves. It will tell me im in Reverse, Drive, 3rd, and Low. But the Park and Neutral lights wont turn on. when i put it in park it stays reverse lit. when i put it in neutral from drive, the drive light stays on. Just another variable thrown into the equation. Im no diagnostics guy but id say that could point to something or other.

The car was towed? If wasn't towed on a flat bed, that tranny is toast. Even if it is in neutral, having it towed on all four wheels will toast the internal guts of the tranny.

If all the shifter light are lit up check out the nutreal safety switch when they go bad all the shifter lights stay on. some times the connector corodes other times they just go bad. If the car was running when towed it could still be ok if it was turned off its done for I cant believe the engine survied? how fast did it get towed?

I cant believe the engine survied? how fast did it get towed?

It wouldn't matter, you can put the shifter in these cars in the "L" position and mash your right foot to the floor and the TCM will still shift the transmission up through all the gears until the speed cutoff. Same with downshifting, the TCM won't let it grab a lower gear if the possibility of over revving the engine may exist. I don't even think the "Autostik" function will let the engine rev past redline in any gear.

But still the possibility of towing the car with the engine running and the tranny in "L" may have overheated it because of the torque converter slippage while driving the engine and may have damaged it.

it turned out to be a bad sensor wire and a solenoid pack. but there was alot of metal in my filter and alot caked up on my magnet... we'll see how things work out internally

the metal means that your torque converter is pulling itself apart

to clear up, it wasnt 'towed' with a tow truck for any distance or high speed. it was towed up a hill (small private residential dirt road) because the hill was too icy for it to make it up. no faster than 10-15MPH. no longer than 150FT

its fucked again. except this time i have all my shifters lights working fine (all the LEDs arent lit up from Park to Low and Park and Neutral function). If I start the car, trow it in drive and give it some gas it will start in 1st gear. if i idle the car after starting for like 5seconds it will throw itself in 2nd. while driving/stopping it doesnt downshift, just stays in limp mode. if i give it some petal at about 4kRPM it will let loose, rev high, and then throw into 2nd. so this time im thinking its mechanical. fuck. probably the long drive in 2nd only...
i dont fucking know. chrysler...pfft

chrysler...pfft

You bought the car cheap with a pre-existing transmission condition and now you diss Chrysler because of it, WTF? The maker of the car has absolutely no control on how a person drives or even maintains their vehicle, especially after the warranty is long gone.

You got choices now, do you take your lumps and get the Tranny rebuilt? Or do you go back to the previous owner (who also happens to be a friend) and stand the possibility of loosing a friendship over something that you knew from the onset had a problem and was just hoping it would be a cheap fix? Or do you just ditch the car and go on with life and chalk it up as a lesson learned?

But copping an attitude towards Chrysler over a 9 year old car with 116000 miles that has been long out of warranty? Sorry I can't agree on that one, the blame goes elsewhere.

You bought the car cheap with a pre-existing transmission condition and now you diss Chrysler because of it, WTF? The maker of the car has absolutely no control on how a person drives or even maintains their vehicle, especially after the warranty is long gone.

You got choices now, do you take your lumps and get the Tranny rebuilt? Or do you go back to the previous owner (who also happens to be a friend) and stand the possibility of loosing a friendship over something that you knew from the onset had a problem and was just hoping it would be a cheap fix? Or do you just ditch the car and go on with life and chalk it up as a lesson learned?

But copping an attitude towards Chrysler over a 9 year old car with 116000 miles that has been long out of warranty? Sorry I can't agree on that one, the blame goes elsewhere.

AMEN!

chrysler did a bad job with this car. TRUST ME I am all Mopar, love everything about anything Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and whatnot. But Chrysler did a bad job on this car. Only two things though- Tranny and steering. The way the steering column was built it put ALOT of stress on wheel bearings, tie rod ends, and other components. This car has already had a tire collapse in because a tie rod end was broken ALTHOUGH MAINTAINED AND GREASED. And the transmission is shit. So ive experienced the two common problems. Tells me how poorly constructed some things in the LH series is. Also some information (also highly exaggerated and shitting on chrysler which i dont like but it states some facts) can be found here about my cars "should be recalls" http://www.daimlerchryslervehicleproblems.com/ .
but to state again, BIG diamler fan, if i wasnt why would i be trading in for an SRT-4 by the end of this year?

I admit I had the inner tie rod end bolts come loose on me on my 95 Concorde, I do agree that the wide flat washer that has the bendable tabs that are supposed be folded over the bolt heads to keep the bolts from backing out is a piss poor design, you know how I found it? When I accelerated the car it would pull to one side and when decellerating it would pull the other way, and the steering felt not as tight as it should. After examiniating the steering system I found a tie rod bushing very loose (and the tabs were folded over the hex like they should be but I could still turn the bolt it by hand, it also caused the rubber bushing to go bad from all the movement. The replacement bushing kit cost me $10 and came with a revised flat washer that has a lockwasher type teeth pattern on it to grip the bolt heads much better, and yes I tightened them for all I was worth! Granted people might not notice the slight degradation in handling but I sure did. As far as the outer tie rod ends, if they were greasable then they were replaced at one time, ALL LH cars from the factory have NO Grease fittings at all anywhere on the car.

As far as the Transmissions, I respectfully submit "Angel" which is my parents 1994 Chrysler New Yorker that they purchased brand new and is one of the reasons I persued buying a LH car when I was looking to get a newer vehicle. Angel to this day has over 160000 miles on her and still has the factory 3.5 Engine and Transmission in her.

Another comment about that website regarding oil consumption, Angel has had synthetic oil in her since the ending of her break in period, you put 5 1/2 quarts in, and on the next change you get 5 1/2 quarts back out and it's so clean looking that it's a shame to have to get rid of it. I have owned the afformentioned 95 Concorde (Jewell) with the 3.5 that got wrecked by some guy driving a civic, the car had 143K on it's odometer when it got totalled and it never used oil either. My current car, a 94 LHS (Hazel) is also exibiting the same behavior between oil changes and it has 107K on the odometer, and yes I run synthetic oil in them too, swear by the stuff. But in both cars circumstances I can not say the Tranny's are stock as I bought them used.

Yes I come from a weird family, we name our vehicles, they seem to treat us well when we do.

yes, the oil? always comes out nice and clean in the 4 years ive been around the LHS. (I bought it from a good friend of mine very recently but have known it for years. i have a hell of an advantage to knowing what makes this car tick and what may be wrong with it).
the tabs, now that i think about it i remember those horrible tabs, they were bent flat when that bolt came loose, horrible design. was replaced with the lock nut and one of the tabs were spot welded to the nut :D, that fuckers never collapsing a tire again (as long as i get the outer tie rod end fixed which recently started giving me shit because my friend did a hell of a hackjob as usual and forgot to grease the fitting... greaseless for 7 fucking months!, HORRIBLE wobbles from 10-30MPH.)
Besides steering and transmission, I am in love with my LH!