91 Pathfinder AT trans wont shift till warm.

[joe_charles]

I had the transmission (AT) replaced (under warrenty) in 1995. about a month ago it started sticking in 2nd gear after driving for about 5 min. If I turned the car off and restarted it, It would shift fine for the rest of that trip. I did this for about 2 months. Now it gets stuck in 1st gear until the car warms up, then will shift fine until it cools down. I tried changing the trans fluid, but that didn't make a difference. Any one Ideas what might be causing it?

[sanford7575]

I also have a '91 and I am having slight problems with the tranny sticking in 1st and second gear.
It seems that these cars are prone to tranny problems because of a flaw with the stock tranny cooler in the radiator that causes them to clog and starve the tranny of fluid in addition to not cooling efficiently and causing excess heat.
With that being said, when your tranny was repaired back in 1995, was the tranny cooler in the radiator thoroughly cleaned? If it wasn't all of that crap that may have polluted the new tranny.
My advice is to add a Tranny Cooler and Remote Filter to aid the stock tranny cooler and to lower the temperature of the tranny. The prevailing thought is that excess heat casues hard shifts and sticking.

[joe_charles]

Just took it into the Dealer to run DIAG. to find out whats up with my trany. also told them to give me a quote on replacing the Speedometer cable. (it's been broken for 3 years). They called back and told me my problem was being cause by the Speedometer cable. and would cost $460 to replace..... WOW..... I asked what the error codes they got back from the diag. "um..I... Um.... I'll check on that". Told them the trans has been shifting fine for 3 years without a working speedometer. I'll let you know what crap they come up with next..... what a waste of $85 for the diag. They better be able to prove to me that they ran the diag. or there's going to be some trouble..... I hate repair shops....