Weird Transmission Behavior??

[sd1800]

Was cruising on the highway today in lockup at about 90kmph. All of a sudden for no apparent reason the revs increased because the converter unlocked for no apparent reason. Refused to lock up again. I also noticed that the light on the dash that tells your what gear you are in, suddenly wasn't lit up, just blanc. Whenever i tried to manually shift into third or second gear from drive, it did nothing and the screen stayed blanc. I initially thought it might have been in third gear in "limp home mode", but i flattened it and it shifted from 4th to 3rd, and then into 2nd so there wasn't a problem there.

I pulled over but kept the car running and put it into neutral. Suddenly the screen on the dash appeared but said it was in Drive for 3-4 seconds until it woke up to itself and realised it was in neutral. It didn't play up again for the rest of the 30 minute drove home.

Any ideas??

[blueoval]

low fluid?

when was the last time u did a trans service?

[sd1800]

Full flush and external cooler fitted 1 month ago (amongst other things, new clutch, few new solenoids e.t.c. $1200 worth).

----UPDATE----
I drove it again this afternoon and it was considerably worse to the point where i refuse to drive it again until it's fixed as it did it in peak hour on the Eastern Distributor (those who know sydney will know what i mean). Once again it appeared at highway speeds. Firstly I noticed I lost drive but the dash said I was in neutral rather than where the stick was which was in drive. It then started being hugely erratic while rolling along at 80ks jumping from Park to 1st gear, then 1st gear to reverse, then reverse to 3rd, then 3rd to park...... you get the idea. I noticed that when It said it was in "park" even though the stick was in Drive i thought "ok, Drive is four shifts down from park, so if I am in drive now, if i move it down 4 spots to 1st gear, it should think i'm in drive" and to my suprise did actually *kinda* work for a little bit until it went blanc as stated in my previous post(this is when TC lockup will not occur and manually shifting wont work)

As before, once i got off the highway and back to bumper to bumper driving it didn't play up once.

Ideas?

[EV1LXR8]

sound like a mess, just a guess but check plug connections for dirt, was the actual trans shifting to 1st then third etc.. or is it just the dash goin spastic? it sou nds more electronicaly than mech.

[sd1800]

Originally Posted by EV1LXR8

sound like a mess, just a guess but check plug connections for dirt, was the actual trans shifting to 1st then third etc.. or is it just the dash goin spastic? it sou nds more electronicaly than mech.

The trans was shifting between gears crazily and falling back into neutral. This was replicated by the erratic dash. The actual shifter never moved.

Is there a "switch" which tells the ECU where the shifter is and puts the transmission in the respective gear? Or is the shifter mechanically controlled?

Perhaps this is the problem since it is being shown electronically on the dash. If it was a mechanical problem it would be the other way around I would think...

[The Monty]

Id just take it back to the place where you got the work done. Its only been a month.

[ZDHLANE]

Originally Posted by The Monty

Id just take it back to the place where you got the work done. Its only been a month.

2nd that!

[sd1800]

Yeah I know guys, but as I needed the car for work on Monday, I would have preferred to try and sort it myself if it was relatively simple.

Anyway the problem in the end was inhibitor switch like I thought it would have been. Transmission bloke said they die alot quicker on the 8's than the 6's due to the heat from the header on the left side. My pacies would have made this even worse.

[blueoval]

at least you got it sorted in the end. good to hear

[Stav]

Haha Im too late..yes the inhibitor switch.

[sd1800]

Yeah.

Lesson Learnt: don't trust wreckers. He insisted my problem would not be the switch as thier only purpose is to stop in starting in gear.