Dying Tranny?

[lespaulkid01]

Hey guys,

I drive a 1994 Camry V6 LE Automatic with 170478 miles on it, and lately I have been having some problems. I had my front drivers side half-axle and CV boot replaced, and had my MAF rewired because of some misfiring problems within the past two months. Now, whenever I accelerate hard when the car shifts into 2nd gear it stalls for a split second, RPM will shoot up to around 7k, and then it will shift pretty hard. every other gear is smooth and shifts around 5k under hard acceleration. It happens under normal acceleration as well but its not as prominent obviously..

Does this mean that my 2nd gear is slipping/wearing down, or is it just because its an old car and I run it pretty hard a few times a week?

I would like to keep it until I just cant drive it anymore, but if my transmission is dying it probably isnt worth the money for me to replace it.

TIA for any help!

[BamZipPow]

Did you check the transmission fluid correctly?

What condition is that ATF? Snap some piccies of it and post it up.

Have you dropped the pan and checked fer debris?

[lespaulkid01]

Whats the ATF? (sorry im pretty new to all of this..)

and no, i havent pulled anything out to look at it.. Im at school right now and my jack stands and tools and everything is at home. not to mention my Leasing company doesnt allow "extensively" working on your car in the parking lot. which they consider anything other than checking your fluids pretty much.

but yes, the fluid is good.. haha

[ghettosled]

ATF - automatic transmission fluid.

check to make sure its at the proper level. if you dont know how to properly check the level - when you engine is cool, drive it for 15 minutes (not on the highway), stop the car and with the engine still running check the level.

when you check it, is the fluid bright red, dark red or black? how does it smell? does it smell a little sweet or does it smell burnt?

[lespaulkid01]

ohh alright. well its snowing right now and im (supposed to be) studying for my big exam on tuesday right now, so i will check it for all that later and take a few pictures of it.

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

[lespaulkid01]

So I didn't take Any pictures because it's snowing but I looked and it was like a bright red color. It looked almost like grenadine syrup. Could it just be because of the 16 years of wear and tear? Or could it also be because sometimes I don't hit the brakes when going in reverse before shifting to drive? I'm just trying to figure out if it is going to die on me anytime soon. Hah

[fenixus]

when was the ATF drained and refilled last time?
it should be done every 30k miles (normal condition) or every 15k miles (severe conditions, e.g. lots of city driving or short distance driving, towing, etc.)

[BamZipPow]

When yer half shaft got replaced, did yer mechanic replace the fluid? There's no way the fluid should be bright red after 16yrs worth of service... You need to ask yer mechanic how the fluid was replaced. Hopefully the method he used didn't dork up yer transmission.

You might have a sticking ball valve. You could try some Auto-RX in the transmission and see if it can gently free up any gunk in the system. It would be worth a try...