I bought a 1990 LE, with 132k on the clock about 2 months ago, and haven't had a problem until now . When I'm idling, with my foot on the brake, or in park, the car will "clunk" when it'* idling. It'* weird, it kind of feels like it'* missing or something. This has been going on for about 2 weeks, and I haven't really paid much attention to it. It never did anything when I was in motion.

Then, 3 or 4 days ago, I was pulling into a friends inclined driveway, when the transmission felt like it slipped just slightly. Not much, but enough to make me notice. I just kind of ignored it for the time.

Tonight, on my way to church, I was stopped at a redlight on a fairly steep incline. When the light turned green, I put my foot on the gas, and it felt like it revved for just a second before actually biting into gear.

The car shifts perfectly during normal driving, smooth and solid, no hesitation, etc.

My dad told me to check the fluid, and on the dipstick there are 4 holes. The fluid just BARELY covers the 2nd hole. Would this be enough to cause the weird problems I'd been having? Do I just need to go ahead and do a flush and filter?

If covering any of the holes you should have enought fluid, my experience is that you need to get well below the add line before it starts slipping.

Did you try bringing it up to the full mark and seeing what happens ? What color is the fluid. Does it have an odor ?

I would probably change the trans fluid and filter but some have warned that this may hasten problems. It has not happened to me.

Could you describe the "clunk" at a stop light a bit bettter, it might be an engine miss.

Might try a can of Trans-X, I have heard a number of good things about it.

I haven't tried adding any yet, but I'm going to do that today and see what happens. The fluid is a brownish red, and is clear and doesn't smell burnt. There'* no grit or anything in it from what I could tell.

The clunk does kind of feel like a miss, it'* like the engine hesitates, and then surges back. Someone told me that it might just be the A/C clutch engaging, so I'm going to check that out and see if it does it with the air off.

I've never heard of Trans-X, but that doesn't mean anything . Is it just an additive?

I hope my transmission isn't about to grenade :(. I just bought this car.

Thank you for your help! You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Surging at idle may just be a dirty Idle Air Control, at 132K it probably needs cleaning. See http://6007.us/iac.htm

My dad has the same year and model Bonneville with 93k on it, and the IAC failed on it a few years back. I remember him spending all day and several hundred dollars trying to figure the stupid thing out.

I wish I knew about BC then .

That definitely sounds like it could help, I'm going to check it out tomorrow. Thank you!