Hello everyone,

I'm new here. I just bought a 1992 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue with 160K on it for my parents today. Their old 1987 Honda Accord finally died after 300,000 miles of reliable service, and they need a car to get back and forth to work in.

Unfortunately the test drive of this New Yorker didn't show off the transmission issues that I've been having since 5 minutes after I actually bought the car. I'm hoping that you guys can help me diagnose the issue. I'm also hoping that it isn't major as I had to take out a loan to buy this car for my folks and I don't have any more money to sink in to it.

Issues:

When first started in "OD" it shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd just fine. From 3rd to 4th it seems to hunt back and forth pretty violently, and sometime when it does that it sometimes just hops out of gear all-together and acts like it is in neutral. After the car slows down it will lock itself in 2nd gear regardless of what position the shift selector is in. I have read that this means that the transmission computer has gone into "limp home" mode. If you turn the engine off and on again, it will repeat this cycle when "OD" is selected.

I have found that if I put it in "3", it will act completely normally, except when it decided it wants to go into 4th gear anyway. Sometimes it will also shift through all of the gears when it is in L mode.

I have done some research online, and from what I've read it sounds like it is very likely to be an electronic control issue rather than a mechanical issue. As I said before, most of the time it works fine in "3", but other times it will even shift though all of the gears when "L" is selected, and it ends up in limp home mode. I figured I'd ask some people that are more familiar with these old Chryslers than I am. I've always been a Honda/Acura guy myself, so I'm sailing unfamiliar seas.

I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks!