I have a problem with my transmission, and it's happened twice now so I'm starting to think I need to take action before this causes me to spend a ton of money...

About a month or two ago, I was hopping onto the highway and nailed the accelerator coming down an on-ramp. I noticed that the transmission seemed to be slipping a bit and the power wasn't getting to the wheels, so I backed off it a bit to see if everything was alright. About 10 seconds later as I was going up a slight hill (DC beltway sucks), and my transmission downshifted automatically from 6th to 5th, and I only had gears 1, 3, and 5. Going to manual mode and automatic shifting all skipped the 2nd clutch pack entirely, like it wasn't even there. I freaked out and limped it home to my friend's house. After turning the car off and back on again, the transmission seemed fine and I went driving in it, casual driving at first, then really getting on it after I thought all was good. No problems occurred since, until today.

I was merging into the far left lane of a highway in 6th gear, and gradually gave it power to increase speed. I noticed my boost gauge jumped from -10HG to about +20psi in close to 2 seconds, then my engine revved up to 4,500rpm, like it was slipping again. About 3 seconds later, the same exact problem occurred and I only had gears 1,3, and 5 until I turned it off, then everything was fine and dandy again.

Now, I'm thinking that in both instances, my car had a boost spike/surge/whatever you want to call it, and the electronics in the car said "Holy crap, we have a problem," then put the transmission into some sort of limp mode, or something. I don't know exactly what it is that's causing it, but that's my best guess, and I would love to hear what some of the experts here think as well.

As it stands now, I have a cheap Buschur Racing manual boost controller, but that doesn't seem to have the agility I need for boost regulation with my current setup, and I'm thinking that upgrading to an electronic 3-port may solve my issue. Unless, of course, this is a transmission problem, in which case I have no idea what to do and I'll be very sad to hear that.

I also searched the forums for related posts, but no one seems to have had this exact problem. If this is a re-post of the same problem, then I apologize in advance, but I would love for someone to either point me in the right direction for a fix, or just leave your opinion on what I should do.

Greatly appreciated, gents.

 

Definitely a transmission problem. When you lose even numbered gears, be prepared for a tranny rebuild.

 

Bump.

 

Think its time to call up SSP

 

Lol ya I was thinking that today as well... Sad.

 

You can PM or call anytime.

 

Dude I had this exact same problem on my MR (and I mean exact!!)...less for the fact mine was stock and I still had the factory warranty on it. Anyway when the dealership got mine it was a tube that had blown off its nipple and that was causing the car to go into limp mode.

 

Hey man, I got the problem resolved.

I took the car back to my tuner, Dino, at SpeedCircuit. After looking at it some more he decided to ship it off to Jack's Transmissions in CO. Jack said that one of the valve bodies got all gunked up and wasn't allowing proper fluid pressures to reach the clutches. The increased power essentially broke them free, and the trans disengaged the clutch to save it from breaking. At least that's how I understand it.

Have a tuner measure your plate pressure and see if it is too low. If so, that may be the problem. It will require a pump and valve body replacement. Jack's is about to have them in stock. He actually gave me his own transmission and swapped with me or I would be waiting for a long time. So big shout out to Jack for that. Thanks man!

With the trans swap, the car is a beast again. It made close to 400whp with a new fuel system and the MHI turbo. Dino said it made 421whp at first but he dialed the boost down from 29psi to 27psi to run a little more conservatively. It runs fantastic.

Good luck with your problem man.