Stays in neutral?
 

I drive a 1.8L '93 Plymouth Laser (Mitsu Eclipse) and its got a really finicky automatic transmission.

1) In my youthful days, I used to "neutral drop" it, thinking it was cool to chirp my tires like I had a manual tranny. In retrospect -- what a stupid fucking idea. My transmission hasn't blown yet, but it JUMPS into third with a big thud under hard acceleration, and sometimes it doesn't engage into drive. If its been sitting for a while, sometimes when I start it up and put it into drive.. it'll rev like crazy.. like it's in drive. It never engages at all unless I flip it into neutral and then back into drive a few times.... any idea what could be causing this?

I've never really been able to find a good diagram/explanation of how an automatic transmission works with all of its universal gears, so if anyone has a good link.. that'd be awesome too.

2) I have a feeling my car burns a RIDICULOUS amount of oil. When I start to get low, I can see it on the oil pressure guage as well as hear a LOUD clicking (valves?) When I check the dipstick, cold.. it shows up as overfilled...warm, it doesn't even register on the dipstick. I've added 3 quarts in the last year (outta 4) and I'm really starting to wonder if my oil sump has problems or what.. any suggestions?

How many miles does the car have on it? I don't have an explanation for th trans, but when you check the oil hot, do you let the car sit for a moment after you turn it off, or check the oil right afterwards? If you check it right afterwards, the oil may not have finished draining into the pan from the head and block. Also, 3 quarts a year is not a ridiculous amount of oil, 3 quarts a week is a ridiculous amount. Hope you get it straightened out.

I am not familiar with that vehicle. These types of issues often follow a specific model. Best route if you want to work on it yourself is find a community. That car has a following, so find a forum of mitsu/laser owners.

Other than that, the trans problem sounds like a logic issue. In general, it's a hydraulic system of clutches and gears and in yours likely controlled by an electronic system of pressure transducers. If any of these components start to fail it can cause weird engagement problems.

If the problem didn't come and go it could be clutch material. (Especially with the neutral burnouts.) Depends on mileage. If the problem only happened the first time each day, especially on cold days, then you could just have a bad check valve. Since the neutral back & forth fixes it I'd say either you're giving enough time for the valve body to fill (after a check valve allowed it to drain) or there's a failing electronic component.

Really, you need to find people who know that car and its idiosyncrasies.

Oh yes, lovely DSM's.

Firstly, what you are hearing as a "clicking" noise is commonly called "Lifter tick" do a search on DSMtalk, or google for the best ways to take care of it, typical it involves a few cleaners, and a bit of work.

And all DSM's also burn oil. On my old 92 eclipse I had to add about a quart every 3 weeks. I know this is not uncommon for these cars.

Otherwise, the engine thing you're talking about sounds like "idle surge" another -common- thing with DSM's. As far as the tranny thing goes, that is a bit more uncommon, but it sounds like something is definatly fucked. Avoid N drops at all costs, they are just bad. I would just try and be gentle with it as possible, don't drive in "power" mode, due to the higher shift points, which will cause more stress.

Sorry I can't give more precise things, but DSMtalk.com or various other DSM forums can answer better than I can. But, in general, thats my advice..

I always wondered about this, because the manual says to NOT use economy when you're doing less than 50, becuase of the low shift points damaging the tranny.. ? :confused: :crazy: :confused:

"It never engages at all unless I flip it into neutral and then back into drive a few times."
Make sure there's enough automatic transmission fluid in there. If there's not enough getting into the torque converter, it will rev up like it's in neutral.