*UPDATE* Young lady needs help with tranny probs
Hello, all. I am a young woman that drives a 2005 Mitsubishi Galant es. It has been a great car, but very recently I have noticed some weird behavior when the auto transmission shifts into a lower gear. It happens rarely, and the car is drivable, but I fear it may turn into a more serious matter. I have noticed as I am slowing down and the auto trans. is shifting down that it is very loud and shifts very hard, with a slight hesitation, or jerk. It does this once and then seems fine, even if I accelerate and the slow down again. It does not do this every time I drive, and when it does act up, it seems to happen after driving for a while and the car is warmed up. Car idles fine, seems to shift fine when accelerating.
A little background, and please be patient, as I know very little about cars in general: I bought the car last year with about 97,000 miles and no maintenance records. At the time, no symptoms as I have described. This has only been happening intermittently for the past couple of weeks. I have kept regular maintenace myself, but did NOT have the trans. fluid changed for fear that it may have never been done before. I have read on this board, and others, that this should not be done on higher mileage vehicles that have not been changed or flushed previously. At around 100,000 miles I was told by a local car service center(during an oil change) that the trans. fluid was "dark" and needed changed. He said that they could do it there, but I would have to get the supplies from the dealer. I hesitated, and after inquiring online and talking to a couple of mechanics, decided against the change or a flush to be on the safe side.
The car now has 121,000 miles on it. I have never changed or flushed the trans. fluid. Now this is happening. Husband checked fluid level today with car warm and in Neutral, and the fluid level was full. Fluid looked very dark, almost black.
1. Could the dirty fluid be causing the problems, and should I change or flush the transmission fluid? Could doing so destroy my trans. at this point.
2. If no to number 1, do you guys have any idea what could be causing this? I am crossing my fingers and hoping this could be some type of sensor problem, and not the beginning of the end for my transmission.
Any advice is appreciated. We plan on taking this car several hundred miles in June for our vacation. Obviously we want this matter handled first.:icon_smile: