1996 V6 problems

i have a 96-95 3.8 V6. it's an automatic transmission and it seems to have a problem with shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. instead of shifting while you keep giving it gas, it will just keep going in 1st gear until you let up on the gas.

in addition to that, it has a problem with overheating. i don't know why, but it will constantly overheat and empty the radiator after only a few days since i last refilled it. i've replaced the engine thermometer and that seemed to fix it for a while, but it went back to overheating again.

and the final problem is that one of the engine cylanders has misfired on occasion, i think it's the 3rd cylander... but i dunno if that makes any difference.

i don't know a whole lot about cars mechanically, and i've done my best here, any help would be great. my assumption is that some of these problems can be attributed to the transmission, but really all of this is beyond any mechanical knowledge of mine. any help would be great, thanks.

have a 97 mustang auto trans and itd id the same thing as yours, turned out to be a bad torque convertor, but had to replace alot of internal parts in the transmission due to the fact that little peices of the torque convertor circulated around, as far as your misfire just start off with your basic tune up which is wires and plugs if that hasnt been done recently, real easy to do on a v6 mustang. now the overheating issue i would do a pressure test on the car to make sure there is no leaks, also make sure the fan clutch is working properly, is there any white smoke coming from the exhaust if there is then a possible intake/head gasket problem with the car, and to be honest with you if all this is going on with the stang i think it might be cheaper to get rid of it now.

thanks for the suggestions. i'd thought about the tune up before but i hadn't done it yet because i really wanted to know everything to try first. i looked up the torque converter and fan clutch ideas and from what i read it looks like you may be right on there.

as for getting rid of the car, it's not as bad as it seems because i got the car for free. rather than dealing with the torque converter, do you think it might just be cheaper to get a new transmission, or a used one?

i forgot to mention first is to make sure the fluid level for the tranny is good, check this while the engine is running, and for labor and rebuild it cost 2500 to do from a idependent shop, so im sure a new tranny would be cheaper i wish i would have known this back then, as for wanting to know everything about your misfire problem it could also be a injector or coil pack problem, but the wires and plugs i would difently do first, is the engine light on? also did you install the termostat right?

I have a 96 GT that the tranny did the same thing when I bought it. I bought the car for 2500.00 because of the tranny, and it needed a new softtop. The transmission shop wanted 1500.00 to rebuild it. Me and my uncle removed it and his friend rebuilt it for 500.00. If you are able to remove it it may be cheaper for you this way also. It turned out that the teeth on 2nd gear was broken and all the small pieces were inside it and the torque converter. It had the same symtoms yours does.