Hello! My dad has a '92 Chrysler LeBaron 4 door sedan with a 3.0l V-6 and automatic (I think it's a 4 speed, but I don't remember; it may be a 3sp). The car's always (at least for as long as he's had it; I think it had 40K miles when he got it) had a hard shift between 1st and 2nd. More importantly, the tranny's been acting very weird as of late. Sometimes it'll drive normally; other times the engine'll rev but the car won't move very fast; almost like there's very little fluid in the torque converter (the fluid always checks out okay, though).

Any idea what's wrong? My dad thinks the tranny needs to be rebuilt or replaced; hence the car's actually been sitting for a long time (it's in otherwise good condition, though; I think it has 50 or 60K miles on it now). I don't know a thing about automatic trannies, so this would be a shop job...hoping for an inexpensive fix, but longevity (a relative term since this isn't a Benz we're talking about ) is more important.

Thanks!

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

Actually the transmission on a 3.0L LeBarron is a three speed hydraulically controlled transmission.

The four speed tranny is the A604 or some variation of it and is electronically controlled by the Transmission Control Module or TCM.

The purpose of the " going into second gear and staying there"
failure mode is a limp in fuction. If the TCM sees a gear ratio error it stays in second gear so that no more damage is done to the hard parts of the transmission and you can still drive the vehichle to a repair center.

Your transmission should be the three speed so that does not apply, does sound like a typical overhaul to me. I've done a few.

Try one of the forums at www.allpar.com.

A common cause of failure in Chrysler FWD 4-speed ATs is filling them with Dexron. 4-speed ATs of that vintage should get only Chrylser 7176 aka ATF+3. Generic shops like AAMCO will tell you they have an additive that brings Dexron to 7176 specs but the post additive failure rate is no better than the straight Dexron failure rate... or so I've read.

If it's a 3-speed then it takes Dexron.

Try replacing the fluid and filter. It's not too difficult. Chryslers don't have a torque converter drain plug so you only replace what comes out of the pan. To do a full flush, when you're done with the filter and first 4 (or however many) quarts, pull the line from the AT to the cooler in the radiator and fill with fresh fluid into the dipstick tube at the same rate old fluid is expelled with the engine running. Stop when the expelled fluid looks clean or you run out of fresh fluid. It shouldn't take more than another 4-6 quarts.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD