dochollidae

I was on the way home from work today as normal. I was on the interstate going about 65 mph when all of a sudden the RPMs ramped way up. The vehicle, though, did not accelerate while this was happening. I let off the gas, then pressed it again, and the same thing happened. Soon, the vehicle began to slow down, and pressing the gas would not make it go anywhere.

So I pull over, told myself not to panic, turned the vehicle off, and thought about it. It's an automatic transmission, and I had noticed earlier this week that there was A LOT of play in the gearshift handle, no matter what gear it was in. For instance, if I put it in park, there is so much play that I have to wiggle the gearshift mechanism around a bit to get the key to come out of the ignition switch. When I put it in gear, it jostles around about the same amount. I thought to myself that I would get in there and tighten everything up, but this problem arose a mere day before I had planned on doing that.

After a while, I cut the vehicle back on, but no matter what gear I put it in, the car wouldn't move. She starts up just fine, there was no check engine light or anything, and I didn't hear a noise when whatever broke or came undone did whatever it did.

Well now, the car won't move. It's on the side of the highway waiting on a tow truck. Any ideas on what I should do? To me, it seems as if something either came loose or became misadjusted or something. Hopefully this isn't something that requires a transmission overhaul, as 1.) I don't want to pay anybody that much money to lie to me about replacing my transmission when it's something simpler than that (that happened to me before), and 2.) it's my daily driver, and I kinda don't need a shop to keep my car for two week or more (same instance of getting my transmission looked at mentioned before).

Thanks

Bustedback

Checking the transmission fluid level would be the first place to start, then make sure the transfercase is not in neutral.

dochollidae

On the side of the highway, I did check more than once to make sure the transfer case wasn't in Neutral. Generally, I don't mess with the T-case since, while I have ventured beyond pavement, I haven't been in any scenarios where I needed 4-Lo (yet). I didn't check the transmission fluid, though. But can the transmission fluid just run out in the middle of the highway like that with no previous signs?

Bustedback

If a cooler line breaks and dumps fluid the transmission will crap out in a hurry, but you should see fluid all over the back window if that was the case.

dochollidae

There's no fluid on the back of the vehicle, but I know what you are talking about. That happened in my Dodge Dakota Sport. I was driving down the highway from Iowa to South Carolina and the transmission cooler line snapped, spraying fluid all over the back of the vehicle. I wish I had known then what I know now, because the mechanic in the tiny, tiny town I was stuck in told me "the transmission exploded and you need a new one".

I was up till about 5 a.m. this morning, so I am just getting up; I'm going to go check the transmission fluid. The only thing is that I can't drive the vehicle to get the transmission to operating temperature in order to properly check the fluid level.

jomps

your dipstick may have a cold indicator line or let it idle to normal operating temperature

dochollidae

My dipstick doesn't have a cold line indicator. As a matter of fact, I don't have faith that the dipstick is even the right one for the vehicle. When I got the vehicle, it was pretty obvious that the incorrect oil dipstick is there, the tires were the wrong size, and (after replacing many sensors) I found that the distributor was in backwards. I don't have much faith in most things on this vehicle besides what I do myself (thanks to the help that I find on these forums, I am able to do things myself correctly).

As for the problem, I have an update: I put it in drive with the parking brake engaged to make sure that the axles were turning. Everything moves like they should. Then the car started moving with me under it! I didn't fear for severe personal injury because this seemed like a good thing. It was moving slowly due to the brake, so I had enough time to get from under it and apply the brakes.

I put it in reverse, and at first it didn't engage, but eventually it moved backwards into the parking space that I had the Jeep dumped in after towing last night. Went back under and found that there was transmission fluid leaking. I have an oil leak that I have to fix, so it was difficult to tell that there is also a transmission leak. But there was definitely fluid from the transmission on the bolts of the transmission pan.

Being that I probably had this problem since I bought it, it's probably a low transmission fluid/clogged filter problem. I'll check the filter and gasket and put some fluid in the transmission and give an update.

dochollidae

Fixed. Problem solved.
I replaced the gasket (which was broken) on the transmission pan, changed the transmission fluid filter, and the transmission fluid. There was a leak in the transmission fluid due to a faulty gasket. Cleaned up the pan and magnet thoroughly, and put everything back together.

Then the car wouldn't start. I left my lights on by accident overnight. Luckily, there were some people outside that asked me for jumper cables; they jumped me after they started their BMW (jumped with a Mercedes(!)). Everything, now, runs super fantastically. It used to lurch and what not in low gears, and now that's gone too. Great.

Thank you guys for all of you help and troubleshooting!