Power Problem

I have a 1990 pontiac bonneville, I was driving it the other day drove it 15 miles, parked it, everything was fine worked for 6 hours, got back in my car and tried to drive home and it seemed like it was stuck in 1st gear, had reverse just no 2nd, drive or over drive. I left it sit for 2 days got in it drove it, had it up to 65 for 6 miles, turned around and went parked it walked inside for a about 5 mins, got back in it tried to drive it 65 couldnt it passed 40 and acted as tho the transmission is out.

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Answer #1: Posted by roadrunnertim on June 26th, 2012 2:44 PM

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roadrunnertim

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Unfortunately, it could be a lot of things. The first thing to do is check the transmission fluid level. Take it for a short drive and then check it while the car is running in park. Make sure your car is on level ground when you check it. If it is low, add fluid (with a funnel) into the tube that your tranny dipstick is in.

If that's not the problem, check the condition of the fluid. It should be red and clean looking. If if is brown, dirty or looks watery, you should do a fluid and filter change. Not hard to do, but very messy. Might be worth it to let your local garage do that for you.

Here's a long shot. Make sure your parking brake is released. If the parking brake is engaged or dragging, that will cause your tranny to overheat and possibly boil the tranny fluid. The best way to check if the parking brake is dragging is to park on an incline and place the car in neutral. Take your foot off the brake and see if your car rolls down the hill with no resistence. If there's resistence, then you need to adjust the brake.

If none of the above are the problem, then you'll have to take it to a transmission repair shop and let them figure out what's wrong..