Automatic Transmssion Fluid

[n0nsensical]

I have a 97 Chrysler LHS that is a bit temperamental when it comes to shifting gears (sometimes shudders while shifting but nothing abnormal between shifts). After about 30 minutes of driving I checked the fluid; the level was right about on the boundary of lowest acceptable for HOT and the highest acceptable for WARM, and it was sort of yellowish-orange in color, which I understand is not great but not terrible. First, I didn't actually find out the temperature of the fluid, and even if I did I wouldn't know the difference, but do you think I need to add some or could it have been right between "warm" and "hot" in temperature and therefore about correct in level? If I did add some would the fluid go in the same place as the dipstick? The manual doesn't specify where to put it and I couldn't find anything under the hood labelled for it. Second, do you think changing the fluid and filter would improve shifting? I don't think they've been changed before but I'm not sure about that. Thanks in advance.

[Pragma]

Yes, you put it in the same place you pull the AT Fluid dipstick out of. On most cars, I believe that dipstick is in a hard to reach place, so you end up needing a funnel with a tube to fill it.

I'm just talking out of my ass at this point, but I don't think flushing the fluid and filling it with new stuff could hurt the situation, and it may help. Shouldn't be terribly expensive, I think a quart is about 3$ or so.

[kazoo]

Automatic transmissions can become erratic owing to bad fluid, low fluid, blockage of the sump screen filter, or combinations thereof. If it has been a while since the fluid was changed, it would be advisable. I'm not sure if that particular model is pressure or vacuum modulated or is ECAT-modulators can also affect shifting irregularity.

Make sure the person you elect to service the vehicle is properly credentialed, better yet from a recommended shop, reducing the likelihood that you'll be taken advantage of. Good luck

[bad30th]

If the fluid is between the warm and hot, then the level is ok.

Try changing the fluid, see if it helps.....Chrysler vehicles are especially notorious for trans problems, so if new fluid doesnt solve your problem, i think youre in for some repairs, I'm sorry to say....

[Peryn]

Chrysler trannies are, or were at least, horriblly notorious for trans problems. I would definately reccomend a tranny flush if you haven't had it done recently. A lot of cars reccomend that as part of teh 30k maintenance. But yeah, dont be too surprised if the tranny itself takes a crap soon. I had bad enough luck with ours, i probably wont own a chrysler auto ever again...

[saltfish]

Remember, many Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Eagle/etc card require a different kinda of transmission fluid than regular Dex/Merc., it's called ATF +3, make sure that you check the requirements of your vehicle.

Also, check the printing on the dipstick, some dodges need to be checked in the park position, some need to be checked in neutral, and sometimes they will say that they want you to check the transmission with the engine running or not running. All of which will written on the dipstick. Remove the stick wipe it clean and read the print on the actual stick.

Most Chryslers are different than normal transmission, because they are electronicially controlled. You'll notice that when you change gears, or come to a stop with normal driving, you will here a series of clicks comming from the engine/transmission, this is the solenoids and such changing from gear to gear.

Honestly, if you're already experiencing transmission problems, something isn't going well. I would take it to a transmission shop, like AAmco. I used to work in a family-owned fast lube, and we did a trasmission flush, "ATF2000", this was a machine that was hooked up to the transmission cooler lines and would accept the dirty fluid from the transmission and put clean fluid back into the transmission. For a dirty transmission, we would flush almost 20-30 quarts of fluid through a transmission. Oftentimes, when we would do a trans-flush on a car that already had trans problems, the problems wouldn't really go away, or they would just get worse.

After a vehicle has been driven for a long period of time with the same trans fluid, varnishes are built up inside the trans and the trans actually changes its behavior to cope with these built up varnishes. When the fluid is changed, these varnish deposits are dissolved and the trans immedietly changes it's performance. This can lead to failure.

<phew>

In summation, take it to someone who knows about transmissions, have it taken care of, the longer a transmission operates incorrectly, the greater the damage can occur.

-SF

[n0nsensical]

Thanks for the advice. Going to take it in tomorrow or Friday to a transmission shop. It does have 117,000 miles and I've heard of these transmissions failing much earlier.

Originally posted by saltfish
Remember, many Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Eagle/etc card require a different kinda of transmission fluid than regular Dex/Merc., it's called ATF +3, make sure that you check the requirements of your vehicle.

Yeah I've also heard the horror stories of people getting Dex in their Chrysler transmission leading to much worse problems. I'm not sure what it says on my dipstick (apparently some say Dex is OK when it isn't), but it does say ATF+3 in the manual.

[theblackmax455]

I worked at Valvoline Instant Oil Change for 2 years, and I saw this same problem on more than a few LHS's. Most of the time, after we did a tranny flush and cleaning of the screen(it works like a filter) everything was OK.........I would recommend it indeed

[kazoo]

The saddest note to this thread is that back in the 1970's, the Chrysler Torqueflite A727 was one of the best transmissions on the market. The bands were externally adjustable, and with proper care would go 250K miles. This was, of course, in the heyday of Chrysler products dominating taxi and police fleets.

[Pragma]

It's amazing how fast a company's reputation can suffer because of bad products. But its not like they don't deserve the reputation now.