3.7 Auto Transmission fault.
It all started with the car dropping out of overdrive. Switching O/D off and on didn't cure it but shutting down and restarting did (for a while) which made me think it was electrical.
Next stage was loss of drive, like a slipping clutch. Again, switching off and onn resolved it but I now know/suspect that was just giving the fluid time to find its way to where it should be.
I did a fluid, pan and filter change which transformed the drive, I hadn't realised how clunky it had got. I thought it was solved.
No chance. A few hundred miles later the O/D began dropping out again, much more frequently than before so I parked it up for a few months. Took it for a test drive today and have realised that upward gear changes can sometimes be quite aggressive and when slowing down the gears don't change down.
It 'hangs up' in 3rd or 4th/OD then changes down when I accelerate. As it drops from the higher gear into 2nd or 1st that causes the car to shunt, it's really not good.
The original fault codes (before I serviced the fluids and filters) showed an overheat and even now with plenty of fluid that still comes up. While driving today with the fault reader plugged in the fluid temperature reached a maximum of 112C which doesn't seem too high to me.
My plan is to do another fluid and filter swap in the hope that might flush something out. If that doesn't work I'll be looking at a transmission swap or rebuild. A used on is around £400/$800 plus labour, fluids, filters etc plus the risk that the 'new' one might be cactus.
Or a rebuild which, on a £2000/$4000 car would be a tough call.
Your ideas, thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.
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