transmission trouble in cold temp

[Admiral]

hi all, my '95 V6 Camry shifts fine when the whether is warm. But when it is cold it has trouble shifting. After a couple of miles when the engine temp warms up it starts shifting normal. I did a transmisison fluid /filter change and replaced with dextron III transmission fluid I think. and I still have trouble. A co-worker suggested that something called a crankshaft position sensor may be failing. Wanted to check here before doing anything. Any thoughts??? Thanks

[Albuynp Ryeno]

My camry had that problem in reverse gear, I'm getting rid of instead of fixing it.

[ghettosled]

check the fluid level. as the car warms up the fluid level raises and maybe that is why your car is having trouble. just curious, is the trouble you are talking about the car not shifting into overdrive until after the car is warmed up? if so, that is normal.

[Admiral]

I'll be sure to check the fluid level out.
And the problem is that it won't shift from when the car is sitting still and tries to go forward into first gear.

[Venom_5]

THIS IS NORMAL OPERATION!

it will not shift into 4th (the final) gear ... keeping it in 3rd makes the engine rev higher when cold so that it will warm up faster

once the t-stat opens and you see the water temps rise, thats about when its warm enough to start using 4th gear

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by Admiral

I'll be sure to check the fluid level out.
And the problem is that it won't shift from when the car is sitting still and tries to go forward into first gear.

Originally Posted by Venom_5

THIS IS NORMAL OPERATION!

it will not shift into 4th (the final) gear ... keeping it in 3rd makes the engine rev higher when cold so that it will warm up faster

once the t-stat opens and you see the water temps rise, thats about when its warm enough to start using 4th gear

You didnt read his last post good. He said it tries to stay in first gear. Mine does the same thing when it is cold. It SHOULD NOT stay in first gear until it reaches a certain temp. It should shift from gears 1 through 3 until it is warmed up enough to shift into overdrive, but this is NOT what happening.

[Admiral]

^thanks for clearing that up for me xtremeskier97. I have told this problem to several people and they all tell me that it is normal, but I know its not. I have had 3 other 95 camrys and none of them ever did that.
Normally it is not too too bad, but lately here in Baltimore it has been very cold. Yesterday morning was the coldest yet. my car was parked on an slightly upwards sloping hill. I applied pressure to the gas and the RPMs revved up but the car only moved slower then a turtle (I am NOT exaggerating!) The rpms went up to 2000, then 2500, then 3000, 3300, but i barely moved. I didnt want to rev it up too much since the engine was still cold so I sat parked in the street while I waited for the engine to warm up. I dont think that is not normal.
Also, I checked and the fluid level is fine.

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by Admiral

^thanks for clearing that up for me xtremeskier97. I have told this problem to several people and they all tell me that it is normal, but I know its not. I have had 3 other 95 camrys and none of them ever did that.
Normally it is not too too bad, but lately here in Baltimore it has been very cold. Yesterday morning was the coldest yet. my car was parked on an slightly upwards sloping hill. I applied pressure to the gas and the RPMs revved up but the car only moved slower then a turtle (I am NOT exaggerating!) The rpms went up to 2000, then 2500, then 3000, 3300, but i barely moved. I didnt want to rev it up too much since the engine was still cold so I sat parked in the street while I waited for the engine to warm up. I dont think that is not normal.
Also, I checked and the fluid level is fine.

What you just described about it barely moving up the hill, is a slipping transmission, possibly caused by low tranny fluid. Get your car up to normal operating temps (drive on the interstate for about 10 minutes) and check your tranny fluid level on a flat surface. If it below the full line, add some. My wife's camry did the same thing, and it was low on fluid (leaking gasket).

[ghettosled]

do you use your parking brake? on really cold days with some moisture in the air, they can freeze even though the lever is released.

[xtremeskier97]

I dont use mine.