I have a 1999 Sebring Convertible LTD, automatic transmission, 41,000 miles that I have owned for 2 years, purchased from the original owner, my father, so I know it's history. It had 30,000 when I acquired it from him. My husband drove the car recently and told me that it is doing something it didn't do before (I didn't notice it but I can see what he's saying).

When starting from a stop or going from 10 to 30 or more, the transmission seems to be slipping. The tachometer needle zooms up to 30 or 40 but there is no power for a few seconds. Then if finally clicks in. At higher speeds there is no problem with the shifts, only at this speed (not sure if it's 2nd to 3rd or 1st to 2nd, I have never had a manual transmission and don't know that much about it all).

We also have a 97 Jeep Cherokee Sport with 111,000 miles and between the 2, you can see a big difference when driving the Jeep, that switch is so smooth and the RPM needle doesn't rev up so high.

So, we had a neighbor drive the car, he could see what my husband was talking about. I talked to my father about his ownership and he said it was probably just a matter of my husband trying to get more power out of the car than was possible (BTWQ, my husband drives a V8 Toyota 4-runner for work so at first I thought he was just used to having a car with more pickup).

This week we took the Sebring to a dealer to be looked over. It is in-between the 30,000 and 45,000 mile inspection so they wouldn't do the 45,000 inspection when we asked them for some reason, but they could not find anything wrong with the transmission. My husband went to the dealer the next day and had the mechanic drive with him and showed him what it was doing. The mechanic finally said "I can't fix that" but since I wasn't there, I don't know what else he said but I'm sure he didn't think there was a problem or he would have suggested ways of fixing it. Then we were chatting with a salesman at the dealership and mentioned the problem and he said he once had a 98 Le Baron that had a slipping transmission and he said the only thing to do is sell the car unless we want to pay thousands for a new transmission.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any other ideas? Also, I'm a bit concerned about safety. I am going today to talk to the mechanic in person and will try to find out a little more. They did nothing to the car, it is still in the shop for a recall on the shifter, nothing to do with the transmission though. Oh, the salesman mentioned maybe flushing the transmission fluid but why wouldn't the mechanic think of that? Do I need to take it to a different mechanic? Isn't the dealer the top of the line?

Thanks....

 

the dealer is like ne place else yes they are suptose to be the best at what they do. As a fact of life in any retail store there will be people that dont know what they are doing and u have no idea as well if they are telling the truth or not. I get to fix several things that the part swapping techs cant fix and by the time it gets to me already have a mad cust, mad service advisor,and putting undo pressure on the ones that fix it. Simiple pointers to which your husband can do. Check the fluid level read the dip stick for how it is to be checked. Get the tranny hot first.