Need help on a dying 1994 LeBaron LX Convertible ASAP PLEASE!!!

About a week ago my car has developed a potentially dangerous problem...

When driving, I can go about 10-15 miles, and the car will lurch hard, and
from that point on, it won't shift out of 1st gear, and I will only drive it
a maximum of 45 mph.

When this first happened, I could pull over, turn the car off for a second,
and it would be fine for another 50 miles. Now it's worse.

This only happens after it's been sitting for a while.
When I go to leave for work, it's fine for 10-15 miles, then WHAM!
When I get out of work, it goes 10-15 miles and acts up again.

Most days I can take my wifes car, but on days she needs it, she has to drop
me off. This wouldn't be a problem normally, but she recently broke her
wrist, and I don't want her driving any more than she has to!

Please please PLEASE help me figure out what's going on! If not for the car,
then to save the inevitable conflicts with my wife when she has to drop me
off too often


Thanks!
Steve

Remove the |\|()5pa|\/| from my email address to reply to email.
However, I will be watching this thread closely until tomorrow at 0500.

 

I doubt the car is reverting to 1st gear. More likely it is going into 2nd,
which is "limp mode" and designed to allow it to be taken to a service
center immediately without a tow. If you continue to drive it as it is now,
you risk potentially doing major damage and requiring a transmission
overhaul. My advice is to get it in now to have the diagnostic code read
and determine if this is something simple, like a vehicle speed sensor.

Bob

 

the car is going into limpin mode meaniing there is some hard fault codes take
it in

 

2nd. It won't shift out of 2nd.

Doing this "clever" reset trick worsens the damage to the trans.

Get the car to a competent trans diagnostician RIGHT AWAY. It's probable
that the original problem was nothing more complex than a speed sensor
(input or output) or a solenoid pack. If you're *really* lucky, it hasn't
significantly worsened.

 

First, thank you all for your quick responses...

I called a buddy of mine and he sent me a link to check the codes with the
check engine light. Here is the link:

http://www.allpar.com/fix/80s-codes.html

I tried it and all it blinked out was 55, which the website says is "end of
codes".

What do I do now?

 

Get the transmission codes check. What you checked were engine codes. You
cannot check for transmission codes yourself. A proper mechanic with a
scanner will have to check for Transmission codes!

 

Quit taking advice from your "buddy."

You have a transmission problem, you won't get transmission codes
from the engine computer. The transmission has it's own computer
that communicates over the CCD buss, a scan tool is the only way
to extract transmission codes.

 

Stop fuckin' around with the engine codes. The problem is a
transmission-related one.

 

Right now I can't really afford the $80 for a diagnostics, especially if
it's going to be an expensive repair...

I think the speed sensor is OK, because the speedometer works...

Is there anything I can try without getting a diagnostic?



Steve

 

You can't afford NOT to get the diagnostic, because the longer you drive
it with a transmission fault, the larger and more expensive the repair
will be.

There are two speed sensors, input and output, and the speedometer working
is not diagnostic.

Getting a better job so you can afford the costs involved with owning and
driving a car comes to mind.

 

Proper scan tools are now less expensive and may be bought by anyone so
inclined. In fact there is absolutely no technical reason for them
ever to have been expensive. Their design, construction, and
programming is very well within the abilities of any beginning embedded
systems designer.

 

I'm not driving it. It's sitting in the driveway until I can afford to get
it fixed.

My service manual for this car says there is only 1.

Great idea! Why don't you go pull some strings in the starving Austin job
market and get me a better paying job?

No?

OK. Until you do, quit being a dick about it!

 

Ah. Very good, then. Wait til you have enough money to fix it right,
otherwise you risk damaging it further.

Your service manual for this car is incorrect, or you are looking at the
info for the wrong transmission.