Automotive mechanical question

[Burning_Inside]

My dad has an 87 oldmobile he bought to bum around in. It has a problem when first starting, that it won't shift from 1st gear to second on its own, you have to manually put it into second, then back into overdrive. When you shift it back into overdrive however, it *may* slip again, and you have to repeat the process. I don;t know if this is due to the cold weather or what.

But after driving for a while, it will shift into 2nd on it's own, but it jerks when it does so. If you let your foot off the gas when you feel it about to shift however, and then put it back on the gas, it shifts smoothly.

Any ideas what the deal is?

 

[Paulo]

sounds like your bands are worn out (thus the change in performance when the car warms up), and maybe have some glazing on the clutch plates or just gummy fluid. It wouldn't hurt to have a trans fluid flush and filter replaced.

just my thoughts...

 

[mostly_a_lurker]

is it low on transmission fluid? you have to check the fluid when the engine is hot.

 

[HumorMe]

My dad has an 87 oldmobile he bought to bum around in. It has a problem when first starting, that it won't shift from 1st gear to second on its own, you have to manually put it into second, then back into overdrive. When you shift it back into overdrive however, it *may* slip again, and you have to repeat the process. I don;t know if this is due to the cold weather or what.

But after driving for a while, it will shift into 2nd on it's own, but it jerks when it does so. If you let your foot off the gas when you feel it about to shift however, and then put it back on the gas, it shifts smoothly.

Any ideas what the deal is?

I had an 87 GMC car that did the same thing. I was manually shifting the gears and after I got into overdrive the transmission would shift back into third or second.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on. I finally broke down and took it to the GM dealer. He said the spark plug wires were graphite and they had started splitting thus causing the engine to underperform causing the transmission to shift back and forth between gears. Evidently, the computer was picking up the wrong signals from the engine causing it to shift in and out of gear.

I don't know if that has any bearing on what is wrong with your father's car but I wouldn't had ever expected the cause of my troubles were spark plug wires.