HELP! ! ! (transmission of course)

[Pyro-tege]

Well, I took the Protege over from my wife about 2 months ago. It is a 2000 Protege LX, 1.6L w/auto trans. I have drained the tranny fluid every year, and refilled with synthetic Amsoil fluid. I baby this car, and accelerate gently and drive pretty conservatively in it. A couple days ago the trans started getting twitchy. Now sometimes when I am accelerating from a stop, or from a coast it seems like it is stuck in a higher gear, meaning lower rpms and less torque. Then the battery light on the dash comes on, and the dash lights start fickering as well as the headlights at night. Other times the car just stutters like its slipping then catching or just bogging down the engine, and the orange overdrive light flashes on and off very rapidly. Eventually it stops and runs normal for a while. I checked the fluid level and condition and it seems fine. My Sentra went 200k on the engine and transmission. This car is at 50k and I hope it is something simple, but but gut tells me to bend over for the mechanic. Any ideas, suggestions?(hear ya)

 

[Tom03es]

Possible electrical issues? Maybe an alternator going out?

 

[Pyro-tege]

I don't know. Seems to run fine then I have found it gets stuck in 2nd gear. No torque at first and as speed goes up the rpms do as well without down shifting and the battery light comes on. I sometimes throw it nuetral then into D and it goes back to normal for a bit. Maybe trans computer?? I was so psyched about getting the Protege too. I figured a Japanese econo car would be reliable for years and at least 100k. I am glad I didn't sell my 200k Sentra yet. May have to keep it and fix and sell the Protege. This sucks. I really don't need this with 2 kids a crappy economy and Chrsitmas coming up.

 

[Pyro-tege]

Damn, you were right. Alternator. It was overcharging (18V+) and also spiking. My mechanic said he had never seem one cause transmission issues. It also had a shift lock code in the computer, so the computer was locking it into 2nd gear, maybe a limp mode to protect itself. Weird. Glad it's not the tranny, but still worries me about the car's reliability long term.

 

[Raiden]

Hmm I have a similar problem, the over drive light flashes on an off and I get a CEL code. But I dont seem to have the actuall performance issues. I took the car in and have had it rebuilt but the issue persist!

 

[00MazPro]

Damn, you were right. Alternator. It was overcharging (18V+) and also spiking. My mechanic said he had never seem one cause transmission issues. It also had a shift lock code in the computer, so the computer was locking it into 2nd gear, maybe a limp mode to protect itself. Weird. Glad it's not the tranny, but still worries me about the car's reliability long term.

I'll make note of this. I haven't had this problem, and I have the same exact car as you. The only difference with mine is that I have almost 108,000 miles. I had the transmission flushed and filled, and the filter replaced back in July.

 

[Pyro-tege]

Hmm I have a similar problem, the over drive light flashes on an off and I get a CEL code. But I dont seem to have the actuall performance issues. I took the car in and have had it rebuilt but the issue persist!

Is the code a shift lock code? That's what mine was. Have your alternator tested. Can't hurt to test it.

 

[Raiden]

The Code i pulled last night was P0771 Solinoid E stuck or off! but yeah saturday morn im gonna pull the Alternator and take it to autozone to get tested!