Well my new toy (had it 2 months) seems to have an unhappy transmission. 1994 Bonnie SE, 71K miles. Car came from Jersey and had been well taken care of. When I got it the car had seen a year or two of city driving with short highway trips.
Had the transmission power flushed and serviced 2 weeks ago as a preventative measure. Worked fine until today. Passed someone on the highway, the tranny downshifted (3rd I think, passing speed was around 70) and is now stuck in 3rd gear.
No upshifts, no downshifts, takes off from a dead stop in 3rd gear and stays there (no shifting). Neutral and reverse still work.
I'm thinking bad shift solenoid(*). I'm also hoping that the bad solenoid will release when the car cools down and I can drive it home normally (and then find a place to repair it).
Any hints? Anyone have the solenoids replaced and give me a hint of how expensive this is going to be?
No SES light, no scan codes as this is a 94 and I haven't figured how to talk to the ECM yet..
Thanks for any advice,
Rob :(

It does sound like a stuck 3rd solonoid. My first instinct would be to use an additive. Seafoam makes a good one for transmissions, but I'd use only half the bottle initially. The trick is to use the least amount needed to accomplish what you want.

I'd like some other opinions on this before you go with it. 'Mechanic in a can" should be a last resort.

Speedo working fine. The transmission seemed normal until I looked down and noticed that the RPMS were staying at 3500 (no upshift or lockup). If I let my foot off the gas the engine would coast down to around 2K and the car would hang back a little bit.
The transmission always seemed to shift OK (and I have driven the car a lot in the 2 months I've had it) but tended to shift a little harder with the A/C on, especially the 1-2 shift. 3-4 and lockup were always OK.
I was almost all the way to work when it happened, around 2 miles at 3500 rpm, then 1 stoplight and a 1/4 mile straightaway to the parking lot. So I'm crossing my fingers to see what happens after the cooldown and ecm cycle.
Preceding the passing manuever (and maybe a contributing factor) was a stretch of highway where a road crew was spraying weed killer on the side of the road so traffic was stop and go. I'm wondering if the tranny was more warm than usual and the downshift made the solenoid bind...

Rob

Hmmm...Correct me if I'm wrong, but if it gets heat soaked, then the ecm will not allow the shift into fourth and will default to third. Could this be what'* happening?

I considered the heat soak idea but it really wasn't that hot (81F outside) and the stop/go wasn't that long. I didn't even have the A/C on.
No SES light while driving (maybe I didn't go far enough with it misbehaving?) , just the lamp self check when I start the car. I find it very weird that there is no light considering it is stuck in gear.. Then again, I have seen weirder things. I have an 88 5 liter Cougar that ran with no SES light (and passed emissions) despite having cross-wired O2 sensors..
Jrs3800, I'm eager to talk to the ECM but haven't had time to get into it. I have an older OTC (Monitor 2000) OBD 1 scanner and a converter plug that gives me 3 pins to insert into the 16 pin connector (OTC calls it a "generic" adapter). However, I have not had the time to figure out what goes where as the 3 wires are colored red,blue,black (positive,signal and ground I beleive) and I'm waiting for my Bonnie shop manual to arrive so I can try and decipher which pins I need on the 16 pin plug.
Sometimes I really wish this car was either 93 or 96.....

Rob

Update:
Left the office, started the car and backed out of my spot. Went to Drive, car was still in 3rd gear.Drove 40 feet, stopped at a stop sign, turned onto the street outside the office and surprise! 4 gears again. Apparently when I stopped at the sign the tranny solenoid released and everything shifted fine for the 16 miles home.
No one had the trans tune (I tried 6 stores) so I'm going to try some "Lucas" transmission additive. The majority of the counter guys I spoke to recommended it over the other "tranny medics".
I figure that I have nothing to lose. If it fixes it great, if the solenoids have to be changed I'll just have them flush the fluid while they are in there...
Thanks for listening guys...

Rob Dusel (now with 4 gears again!)

Be careful in what you put in your transmission.The product should address what you think is the cause of the problem.If you think that a valve is sticking then choose something that has cleaning ability.I wouldn't be putting some thick gloppy stuff in there that'* made to nurse along old trannies with worn out seals.I've noticed that Lucas products are almost always seen as the answer.The stuff has almost reached cult status among the younger generation.And the auto parts stores push the hell out of selling it.Not trying to smash anybody'* icons but some of us older farts think a little different.There are other products out there if you feel you need an additive.Willwren gives good advice.There'* also several varieties of an additive called Lubegard that transmision shops generally carry.Now that it'* fixed itself why not try driving it for a while and see if it occurs again before adding anything.End of lecture and flame suit on.

Back again after giving this some more thought.You said the trans was power flushed.Did they drop the pan and change the filter and clean the pan and magnet?If not then you only got part of a proper trans service.Transmission flushes without filter changes are the money making rage these days.Did they flush with solvent or only clean transmission fluid?If you decide to get another flush I'd think about paying the extra at a place that uses only clean trans fluid to flush with.And naturally this would be after proper filter service if it'* not already been done.There'* also the chance that it may be something that'* electrically intermittent in controlling that solenoid valve and it'* not inside the tranny.

Evening Helikon!
No flame suit needed here, I asked for advice and I'm open to it.
First, the flush was done at a Firestone outlet and included a machine flush with 12 quarts of ATF and a new filter/pan gasket. I did see the flush machine next to my car'* bay when I picked it up so I am comfortable that they did actually flush the tranny.
regarding the additive, it'* labelled to free sticky valves and remove deposits, not to swell seals. I think that is the trick I need but will take your recomendation and leave the bottle in the trunk until the problem rears it'* ugly head again. I'll also keep my eyes open for the Trans Tune Wilwren recommended.
I'll keep your electrical suggestion in the back of my mind but it'* not at the top of m suspects list.
Thanks and have a good evening!
Rob