Is there hope for a slipping ATX?!
Posted: June 10th, 2009, 9:18 am
Murphy's Law: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. 
I've got a '95 1.6L Mx-3 with an ATX. The engine was on its way out last winter (Posted about it in 4-cyl forum) so I rebuilt it and I am currently at about 5000 miles. My worst fear for the entire time I was working on the engine was that the transmission would fail as soon as I fixed the engine and gave it more power. It seems to have taken a few more miles but I think there's a big problem shaping up!
I moved to Indiana from Minnesota two days ago and with 3 hours to go to my destination, my only car that I would have in Indy started acting funny. I would be cruising around at 70mph (~112Kph) and with my foot stationary, the speed would fall with the engine speed remaining constant (level grades). Suddenly it seemed that it would catch. Sometimes I could only accelerate if I let off the gas for a second and very slowly press down (otherwise it would slip again). I found that at first it would only do this between the speeds of about 69-72 mph (had a gps with me) but I could accelerate through this band and drive steady at a faster speed.
One time it just simply would not catch despite letting off the gas and trying again and again. I had fallen from 70 to about 55 on the freeway when I found that if I press hold to kick it down into 3rd it would catch and I could accelerate back to speed. This worked a few times, then it reved immediately to the redline when it kicked down, so I had to take my foot off the gas to allow it to catch before I could get going again.
Its become worse and happening in lower gears at lower speeds and this has happened in the span of 2 days. It seems similar to what Nd4SpdSe said on this page (http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... ilit=lucas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). The only thing is that I've twice changed the fluid since the engine rebuild (once to remove the axles, the other to change the tranny filter after the new fluid from the last change ate away any build up from inside the tranny).
Well, I'm none too knowledgeable on transmissions, but I've heard that the fluid level is critical and can cause slipping or hard shifts. I'm don't know what causes what...If there is to little fluid would that cause hard shifts? And can there be too much fluid because there is a reservoir at the bottom of the trans, right?
I've also tried adjusting the throttle cable according to the shop manual, but even when the line pressure should be the highest, I'm getting no less slip and it still shifts uncomfortably smooth to the mind (it used to have a firm (but not too firm) shift).
Wow is this a long rambling post
! But I would appreciate all and any input to the situation you can give. Thanks guys!
I've got a '95 1.6L Mx-3 with an ATX. The engine was on its way out last winter (Posted about it in 4-cyl forum) so I rebuilt it and I am currently at about 5000 miles. My worst fear for the entire time I was working on the engine was that the transmission would fail as soon as I fixed the engine and gave it more power. It seems to have taken a few more miles but I think there's a big problem shaping up!
I moved to Indiana from Minnesota two days ago and with 3 hours to go to my destination, my only car that I would have in Indy started acting funny. I would be cruising around at 70mph (~112Kph) and with my foot stationary, the speed would fall with the engine speed remaining constant (level grades). Suddenly it seemed that it would catch. Sometimes I could only accelerate if I let off the gas for a second and very slowly press down (otherwise it would slip again). I found that at first it would only do this between the speeds of about 69-72 mph (had a gps with me) but I could accelerate through this band and drive steady at a faster speed.
One time it just simply would not catch despite letting off the gas and trying again and again. I had fallen from 70 to about 55 on the freeway when I found that if I press hold to kick it down into 3rd it would catch and I could accelerate back to speed. This worked a few times, then it reved immediately to the redline when it kicked down, so I had to take my foot off the gas to allow it to catch before I could get going again.
Its become worse and happening in lower gears at lower speeds and this has happened in the span of 2 days. It seems similar to what Nd4SpdSe said on this page (http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... ilit=lucas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). The only thing is that I've twice changed the fluid since the engine rebuild (once to remove the axles, the other to change the tranny filter after the new fluid from the last change ate away any build up from inside the tranny).
Well, I'm none too knowledgeable on transmissions, but I've heard that the fluid level is critical and can cause slipping or hard shifts. I'm don't know what causes what...If there is to little fluid would that cause hard shifts? And can there be too much fluid because there is a reservoir at the bottom of the trans, right?
I've also tried adjusting the throttle cable according to the shop manual, but even when the line pressure should be the highest, I'm getting no less slip and it still shifts uncomfortably smooth to the mind (it used to have a firm (but not too firm) shift).
Wow is this a long rambling post
! But I would appreciate all and any input to the situation you can give. Thanks guys!
Won't be using them anyway.