I've owned this 1998 MC for over 10 years now.

I am literally wanting to vomit writing this post.

My MC has about 136,000 miles.

The transmission is now occasionally slipping from a dead stop, like at a stop light. The tranny used to shift silky smooth, but now recently has started shifting hard, especially going from first to second, and second to third.

Well over a year ago, it slipped for the first time. I had been driving it in city traffic for hours, and kinda gunned it pulling out into traffic, after waiting for 5 minutes for an opportunity to pull out. The tranny slipped, and then the car engine died.

We did drive the car back in April on a 9 hour vacation trip. At one time during the trip, going up a very steep and long incline (small mountain), the car had a very hot smell...but we were driving right next to a semi with a heavy load. I didn't think about it much then, other than the smell was odd, but now I wonder if that was a warning sign.

In the past, I've had a few times, literally no more than three, that the tranny seemed to slip, and two of those times, the car died. The car had been driven all day and was hot.

In the past 200 miles, the tranny has now slipped 3 or 4 times alone, and it has only died once when it slipped from a dead stop, and then the hard shifting started. It is shifting hard when the car is hot or cold. I have not had any slipping between gears, only from a dead stop.

The fluid is full, but brown. Some very tiny air bubbles on the dip stick when it is pulled.

I have the 3.1, and my mechanic and great friend put a scanner to the engine. He says that it is showing a code for a bad camshaft positioning sensor.

I really want to vomit. I wanted this car to last at least to 200K. Losing this car right now is not in my financial plan.

Is there any chance in the world that the camshaft positioning sensor could be causing these transmission problems??? Even a remote chance, like one in a million?

What do you guys think?

Any chance this could be a simple fix??

If the transmission is going bad, what part is it? A sensor? Clutch packs? Torque converter?

Any chance that Lucas Stop Slip would buy me some time? Even a few thousand miles?

If I do nothing to the car, and keep driving it, how many more miles do I have? 50? 500? 5000?

Thanks in advance. I am going to go vomit now.

 

Welcome to the forum!
I see you haven't completed your filling out your profile.
What state are you from?

Your actually very fortunate to get that many miles out of the trans. Usually around 80,000 miles issues show up.... Is the cel light on?..
I recommend highly to have a fluid filter change done on the trans!... If you DONOT have a cel(check engine light) on. I doubt its a cam/crank sensor. Start with the fluid filter change..on the transmission

If the problem continues with the staling:

It could be the motor is running hot and is shutting down from it being over heated. whens the last time you did an oil change on it? Have you ever done a flush and fill on the cooling system? It surely sounds to me like a very poor maintenance program... In order make these vehicles/drivelines last... A strong maintenance program is vital to it proper operation and longevity!

 

The cam sensors like to go out on these cars, I would start by looking into that issue, especially if this slipping is the reason that caused the car to stall out.

Also, I may not be a horrible idea to drop the pan on the trans, change the filter and top it off with trans fluid. DO NOT flush the trans, that'll just dig you in a deeper hole.

I would first change that sensor out, that may fix your issue and help you to stop tearing your trans apart with all these slips.

 

This isn't always true. You have to crack the filter to find out weather or not this will cause a problem. Probably in this members case but it might be better to educate him why he shouldn't do it now but should do it every 30k-50k miles with any other car. Brown trans fluid is very very bad. When was the last time it was changed?

 

Mitch is that true just on the "3.1" ? (the cam sensor)

My 3.8 hasn't had that problem in 167,000 miles!
He definitely needs a filter fluid change, with that burnt brown trans fluid...could be the cause of all the heating problem.

 

Hi Clovis, sorry to read about your problem I hope a member can help you. Good Luck

 

X2 change the filter regardless of how long its been since the last tranny service it will not hurt. The myth came from people waiting to long to change it, the sludge from the old fluid would work loose and clog the new filter. All you do is change the filter again and youre good. Ive done hundreds of teansmission filter changes and never had a tranny die because of it.

 

I've seen plenty of high mileage L36, L67 and such have the crank sensor go out, more specifically

 

Me too

 

Change your transmission fluid and change the cam sensor, then hope for the best. You can get a used tranny for cheap though.