Transmission stops working then starts working again?

Question

98 Chevy Lumina. 140k miles. Transmission suddenly "went out" so we added transmission fluid to it, actually over filled it. Then it went out again so we syphined out the excess transmission fluid, it was pretty dark in color. Car acted fine, then the transmission went out again. Now its working again.. very unpredictable. What could be the problem? Any suggestions?

Answer 1

start with the least expense. filter change and new oil correct grade. beware of a transmission flush i have herd more problems then good. transmission oil is high in detergents, so a flush is last resort 150.00 +/-

Answer 2

Have you ever had the trans serviced? As in Change the fluid and the filter. Like your engine, the trans has a filter also. Usually at 100,000 miles they recommend draining the old fluid, removing the trans pan, replace the filter and gaskets and refilling the trans with clean fluid. But be careful, the manual will give you an amount of fluid the trans holds. That is for a NEW service. a refill will be less than that. BE careful not to overfill it. Hope this helps

Answer 3

If it got so low on fluid that it stopped working the internal pump is probably damaged and the bands are burnt. Sometimes the damaged pump picks up a prime and other times it won't. You can try the flush idea but I think you are going to end up rebuilding the transmission so just save the money for the flush, it never works AFTER problems occur.

If it was me I would bite the bullet and have it rebuilt, the lesson to always keep your fluids up can be costly, most of have paid it at one time or another. I think it is your turn.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Probably the cheapest start is to drain your transmission fluid and change the transmisssion filter. Hopefully nothing worse. Good Luck!!