AutoTran problem

[Jet Black]

I drive my car pretty hard. And up to a few days ago, everything was fine. I arrived at a stop light, and took off like normal when it turned green. But after I hit about 35 mph, the RPM's kept going up, but no power was being transferred to the wheels. It almost felt like being in 5 gear, when I should have been in 2 or 3.

Im wondering if these are the symptoms of a trany on its way to the death bed. And if so, is their any way to increase its longevity.

Thanks

[Fishboy55]

When was the last time you changed tranny fluid, and what brand did you use. You should ONLY use Mitsu fluid and change it every 30K miles or so.

[Jet Black]

Actually I dont know when the last time it was changed. How often am I supposed to change it. I got the car w/47k miles on it. It now had 51k miles.

Is changing the trans fluid like changing the oil.

Thanks

[Fishboy55]

If you don't know the past history of the car, I'd change the fluid just to be sure. It's not too much different than changing the oil, but somewhat more difficult. I've never done mine, but there is a tutorial floating around here somewhere on how to do it.

I can't stress this part enough. Use only Mitsu transmission fluid. This will save you a lot of potential problems down the road. Yea, it costs more, but since you have a 60k mile warranty on the drivetrain, you don't want to risk voiding it by using a different kind of fluid.

[delo]

Also check to make sure u have no leaks. Thats what mine started to do one day and come to find out I needed transmission work.