2002 Sebring, 4 cylinder, 103K miles.

While maintaining steady speed on the highway the transmission will downshift to compensate for an uphill grade. It drives fine while this is happening but a STRONG smell of burnt friction material occurs.

Fluid level is good. Car drives fine otherwise. Has occasional hard downshift on deceleration.

Advice?

 

take it to a tranny shop let them look at it

 

Any ideas on what would cause my problem?

 

a failing transmission? derp derp

 

Stunning diagnostic expertise.

I was thinking more along the lines of, "band slippage causes the clutches to burn," or something. You know .... actionable information.

 

The burnt smell may be the clutches in the trans slipping. If so, the clutch pack will need to the rebuilt and that requires a transmission overhaul to fix. Have you looked at the fluid to check for discoloration and burnt odor. Good trans fluid is reddish in color and smells sweet. Anything else indicates a problem.

I think most transmission shops will evaluate the problem and give you a free estimate of the cost to fix. Take it to a couple of different shops if you want confirmation of the problem. Most would not consider this a DIY repair, but you might be able to do it if you have the time and a place to work.

 

Thanks, Unit. I'll get it looked at, but I still want to troubleshoot mentally.

I checked the fluid level. It was correct. The fluid on the stick looked normal to me. I didn't make any special effort to smell it, but it didn't have any striking odor. Any reason that this would only manifest itself when the kick-down solenoid is active? If third gear has a slipping band, wouldn't it slip whenever the gear was used?

 

In the beginning, clutches will slip under hard acceleration or a heavy load and slowly get worse until they slip all of the time. It could be something entirely different, because it's rare to smell an automatic transmission from inside the car. The odor could be from a brake dragging, but I think you'd have it all of the time. Have you touched the wheels after driving the car to see if one wheels is considerably hotter than the rest. Place your hand near the lug nuts, a wheel can get very hot if a brake is dragging. Is the parking brake released all of the way?

 

I would try a complete trans flush. My V-8 Dakota was slipping at times and new fluid fixed the problem. Make sure you use atf+4 fluid or it won't work correctly. Don't use the additive type fluid so shops try to use.

 

They re-enginerred the solenoid on my 2002 Sebring. The bottom, which was metal, pitted after a while and leaked. The new one is terrific. When I first drove the car with the new solenoid, I had a lot of power and gearing was smooth. Check into it! They will not tell you.