Shark_MegaByte

I have an 89 automatic. Two days ago, I noticed it was feeling slow and revving high on the expressway. I clicked between overdrive/no overdrive, and there was no difference. I got off and on the exit ramp I shifted from D to 2nd. Again, no difference. From a stop, I tried going 1-2-D, and it still didn't even try to go to 3rd.

Yesterday, checked the tranny fluid and it was full. Then without doing anything, 3rd and 4th gear came back. It continued to use them throughout two separate short drives in the morning and evening, but twice it went from 1st to 2nd, back to 1st then up again until I pushed harder on the gas.

I took the car to a transmission shop this morning. They looked without putting it on a lift or opening anything up, one of their guys drove it for a few minutes. The gears all worked for him, but he said 3rd was pretty soft.

Whatever is wrong, it seems to partially coincide with operating temperature..

A lady with an automatic Ford Taurus came in just after I did, having the same problem. They asked us both if it went away after the car warms up, and that kind of fits with what's been happening, except that even when it is shifting to 3rd and 4th now, something feels different. It could be my imagination, but I think there is slightly more vibration.

I had run the car for about 15 minutes to get there (it felt like it was not making 4th on the way), and it was just starting to warm up when I arrived, so that could explain why they didn't experience the lack of gears.

They just said 3rd seems pretty soft and estimated $1700 to rebuild the transmission; that's if it doesn't need any hard parts.

No way I can do that. I dont have it. I can get another automatic swapped in for $500 from a guy I know, but I'm hesitant on that too because I want to be more sure it will solve the problem.

Has anyone else had a problem like this?