New Eclipse Owner, Transmission Issues :(

[96eclipselovr]

Hello, Im new here, and i know guys in forums r kinda harsh sometimes, as i know from my previous cars ive owned, but im gunna start by saying, ive ALWAYS wanted an eclipse and i JUST bought one yesterday, and everything seemed fine with my transmission when i bought it. But now (2nd day of owning it), I'm having issues!!

Ok, So i have a 96 Eclipse, nothing special, except for the fact its the cutest lil car! haha (ive always wanted one, and finally after years of stupid cars ive owned, i got one!!!)

Ok, so I just bought this Eclipse yesterday, and i barely know much about cars, took auto for 2 years in high school, but Im not too bright. ANYWAYS... i took my Dad and boyfriend with me to look at this car i found on craigslist, and it was 1800, but after the guy talked to my dad on the phone for a lil while, he told my dad i know ## gunna talk me down, lowest ill go is 1600, and he was an older guy, so i figured he cant be racing this thing around, ### i always been afraid to buy one because i thought it'd b too beat up, but it was an older guy, evrything seemed legit, and my dad test drove it, transmission shifted fine, the car had a couple lil sounds n shit, but no big deals, my dad knew wutevr was wrong with it and said they were simple fixes, so we paid the dude, went n got my plates, did all that fun stuff, so i drove it to olive garden last night (3 miles away), and then this morning, i drove it to walmart and then back home, also not far, so then i had to get to work, not far, again, drove back to pick up my son from my bfs, and we went to auto zone, so i can buy all my cute hello kitty stuff for my interior, hehe, and then went to portillos, all not far. we decided before going back to my bfs to just cruise around for a lil so my son would fall asleep, we cruised maybe like 15 miles, and i was going about 40-45 mph and my car felt like it just went into neutral and reved a bunch, but barely would go, so right away, i pull ovr and my bf looks at the engine, under the car to see if anything was leaking, he checked all the fluids, everything was fine, so i figured maybe one of us bumped it into neutral accidentally or something, so we turn around to go back toward home, and it WONT SHIFT!! i was going maybe 30-40 mph and it was going like 3-3.5 rpms and it still WOULDNT SHIFT!!! so of course i pulled over yet again, shut the car off, called my dad, he said take it out of over drive, i did, i let it cool off for like 10 min, and headed back home, still wouldnt shift, so i stayed going slow (between 15-30 mph), and got back home, so BASICALLY all my trying to say is, it seems like it basically wont shift outta first, and idk wut to do. i dont have the money for a new tranny, i dont trust shops too much, and i just dont know what to do! can someone pls help me!

 

[96eclipselovr]

They arent exactly in that order and yup that is the shift solenoid or trans solenoid. As I explained the TCM
Transmission Control Module connects to that and tells the solenoids when to open and close to allow fluid through. Hence when your trans warms up it goes haywire because no fluid is flowing In theory they had a good idea with this trans but it ends up being a pain in the ass in the end .

haha, now I get it. I never knew how a transmission worked. I know that sounds dumb, but now I know. Thank you!

I love this forum. I'm learning so much!

 

[crusada]

Not all trans are like this though remember that its just this trans that Chrysler had this crazy design with.

 

[Lou98GSX]

Chrysler calls it a solenoid pack and they do go bad . try changing it or go to a dealer and pay the one hour diag charge to see exactly whats wrong .if you do change it yourself you have to be very careful when tightening the bolts and also make sure to remove the old gasket cause sometimes pieces stick to the case of the transmission .also blow out all the dirt that accumulates behind the solenoid pack before you even start.

 

[josh408]

haha, now I get it. I never knew how a transmission worked. I know that sounds dumb, but now I know. Thank you!

I love this forum. I'm learning so much!

Knowing is half the battle

 

[96eclipselovr]

Chrysler calls it a solenoid pack and they do go bad . try changing it or go to a dealer and pay the one hour diag charge to see exactly whats wrong .if you do change it yourself you have to be very careful when tightening the bolts and also make sure to remove the old gasket cause sometimes pieces stick to the case of the transmission .also blow out all the dirt that accumulates behind the solenoid pack before you even start.

yeah, Josh and Shaun warned me about that. And Yeah, I'm almost 100% sure thats the problem. We plugged it into the computer thing, and it said "shift Solenoid A Malfunction" so we got the solenoid.

My boyfriend is installing it right now for me actually. I hear him vaccuuming out there. Haha. He's mad to be working on a dsm. but when its all done, it'll be running better then his car!!! Hehe!

I'd be out there helping but it's getting dark and cold out, plus my little guy is still not feelingall too well, so I need to stay by his side.

 

[crusada]

I pray it works and if it does WOOOOOHOOOOOOO I hope the lil man gets better to. That is funny atleast hes nice enough to work on it though.

 

[96eclipselovr]

I pray it works and if it does WOOOOOHOOOOOOO I hope the lil man gets better to. That is funny atleast hes nice enough to work on it though.

yeah. we didnt think they would have it in stock, so we thought they'd be able to order it by tomorrow, because my dads off tomorrow so I was going to have him do it. but then they hd it and I was like, "aww, my dads going out tonight, so he can't do it until tomorrow." and Sean (my bf) was like, "you know I can do it"

WOO!!!

Thanks again all of you guys sooo much!! You're the bestest!!!

 

[crusada]

Glad to be of service. Now that will be a 500 dollar charge and a 2 dollar convenience fee with 5 dollars in taxes and a 50 dollar anonymous charge JK

 

[josh408]

Glad to be of service. Now that will be a 500 dollar charge and a 2 dollar convenience fee with 5 dollars in taxes and a 50 dollar anonymous charge JK

Don't forget the rush charge and an extra $100 because she's a female and has no idea what were talking about

 

[crusada]

HAHA yea I was talking to her last night on the phone so she could write everything down to tell her dad and bf. Ive dealt with this issue more then once. As stated great idea by Chrysler but ended up being a fail

 

[96eclipselovr]

Don't forget the rush charge and an extra $100 because she's a female and has no idea what were talking about

HAHA! you guys are so funny! But I don't have anymore money after fixing her! now to see if I can figure out how to post this video on here...


http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k561/hotboxnaccord/?action=view&current=Video02182012194547.mp4

couldn't figure out how to upload a video, but here's a link to the video on photobucket. It's my boyfriends photobucket so don't make fun of the name, NOT MINE!

She's still shifting kind of rough... any other suggestions?

 

[crusada]

HAHA! you guys are so funny! But I don't have anymore money after fixing her! now to see if I can figure out how to post this video on here...


Video02182012194547.mp4 video by hotboxnaccord - Photobucket

couldn't figure out how to upload a video, but here's a link to the video on photobucket. It's my boyfriends photobucket so don't make fun of the name, NOT MINE!

She's still shifting kind of rough... any other suggestions?

Did you make sure everything was clean? give it time to work the fluid through the new solenoid to.

 

[SLIDER121]

Those solenoid packs go bad all the time. I keep those in stock and sell them all the time. Make sure everything is clean when you replace it and don't by an aftermarket one go to a dealer.

 

[LxiMax]

Did you reset the ECU after replacing the solenoid pack? It cold still be shifting how the computer remembers it when it was bad. Also change the fluid and filter for safe measure.

 

[96eclipselovr]

Did you reset the ECU after replacing the solenoid pack? It cold still be shifting how the computer remembers it when it was bad. Also change the fluid and filter for safe measure.

How do u reset an ECU? where would I go to do that? and we replaced the fluid. not sure about the filter. I didnt work on it, so I dont know. :/

 

[LxiMax]

How do u reset an ECU? where would I go to do that? and we replaced the fluid. not sure about the filter. I didnt work on it, so I dont know. :/

You reset it by disconnecting the negative battery terminal for about 15 minutes. This clears the old memory saved by the ECU. A fluid and filter change can make a world of difference. The best thing to do is buy two big white buckets and about 15 quarts of atf+4. Fill one bucket full of the ATF+4. Then take both transmission lines off and put the return line into the full bucket and the other line into the empty bucket. Then while you watch, have someone start the car. The return line will start sucking the new fluid through quickly. The old fluid will be going into the other bucket. Once the fluid starts coming out clean into the one bucket, have the person shut the car off and reconnect the lines. Best way to change out all your old fluid for new fluid and not go through the process of having it flushed with all those chemicals.

 

[josh408]

You reset it by disconnecting the negative battery terminal for about 15 minutes. This clears the old memory saved by the ECU. A fluid and filter change can make a world of difference. The best thing to do is buy two big white buckets and about 15 quarts of atf+4. Fill one bucket full of the ATF+4. Then take both transmission lines off and put the return line into the full bucket and the other line into the empty bucket. Then while you watch, have someone start the car. The return line will start sucking the new fluid through quickly. The old fluid will be going into the other bucket. Once the fluid starts coming out clean into the one bucket, have the person shut the car off and reconnect the lines. Best way to change out all your old fluid for new fluid and not go through the process of having it flushed with all those chemicals.

I did this with the power steering fluid

 

[NHerron]

You reset it by disconnecting the negative battery terminal for about 15 minutes. This clears the old memory saved by the ECU. A fluid and filter change can make a world of difference. The best thing to do is buy two big white buckets and about 15 quarts of atf+4. Fill one bucket full of the ATF+4. Then take both transmission lines off and put the return line into the full bucket and the other line into the empty bucket. Then while you watch, have someone start the car. The return line will start sucking the new fluid through quickly. The old fluid will be going into the other bucket. Once the fluid starts coming out clean into the one bucket, have the person shut the car off and reconnect the lines. Best way to change out all your old fluid for new fluid and not go through the process of having it flushed with all those chemicals.

We used to do this with a big automated machine that came with adapters but how would you get the lines to extend into the buckets? Most vehicles we did had hard lines going into the trans cooler making it difficult to point them outside toward a bucket..

 

[96eclipselovr]

Thanks for all the tips guys!! She's been running pretty good now! I'm too happy my beautiful car is fixed! Got a car wash last night so she's all shiney now!! And I put the Hello Kitty seat covers on her (can't get the damn stearing wheel cover on bc it's so cold outside). She's such a gorgeous chick car!!! Girls will be so jealous! Now all I have to do is paint her pink. Lol. Just kidding.

 

[josh408]

Thanks for all the tips guys!! She's been running pretty good now! I'm too happy my beautiful car is fixed! Got a car wash last night so she's all shiney now!! And I put the Hello Kitty seat covers on her (can't get the damn stearing wheel cover on bc it's so cold outside). She's such a gorgeous chick car!!! Girls will be so jealous! Now all I have to do is paint her pink. Lol. Just kidding.

Oh no.....

 

[96eclipselovr]

Oh no.....

hehe

 

[josh408]

hehe

I never understood the deal with hello kitty. My gf is a over that stuff. But I guess. If you think it makes the car look better. -__-"

 

[96eclipselovr]

I never understood the deal with hello kitty. My gf is a over that stuff. But I guess. If you think it makes the car look better. -__-"

haha, I've loved Hello Kitty since like, 6th grade, and everyone thought it was super weird, but now she's cool, after all these years of being made fun of for liking a cartoon cat, shes popular, so it's all good, now... I'm in with whats cool for once. haha.

But I'm fricken pissed because the stupid seat cover already ripped! There goes $30. I hope the other one doesn't. haha.

 

[josh408]

haha, I've loved Hello Kitty since like, 6th grade, and everyone thought it was super weird, but now she's cool, after all these years of being made fun of for liking a cartoon cat, shes popular, so it's all good, now... I'm in with whats cool for once. haha.

But I'm fricken pissed because the stupid seat cover already ripped! There goes $30. I hope the other one doesn't. haha.

It's a sign! No more hello kitty