Howdy All,

Just this past couple days my Magna (94 TS 4cyl Auto) has started thudding back a gear when I'm slowing down .. not quite as I stop but as I get pretty slow. It's a fairly notable thud.

I checked my ATF fluid level when it was up to temp/after cycling through the selector back into N and on the "HOT" side there is a little double line || and it's smack bang on that .. appears pinkish in colour (it's very light tho, but AIUI seems to be what it's supposed to be)

Also possibly of note, when it's cold it is very quite sluggish - not sure how to describe it 100% but it's definately much worse with the on-set of the super-cold weather which seems to be more or less when this is started so I'm wondering/not sure if that's related at all.. but it keeps thudding even when the car is well warm / been running for 30 etc.

It's very slow to rev up etc when it's cold sluggish, even if (and I haven't done this often, because it's not a good idea .. but a couple times when I went to pull out and it wasn't going quite fast enough with oncoming traffic.. heh ) - foot to the floor it still struggles along a bit. That maybe exaggerates the issue a bit.. but maybe you get the idea.

Any ideas? I was thinking of getting an A/T service done shortly anyway (no idea when the last one was done) - so might go ahead with that at any rate but like to know if there is a more common cause or if I should get that done/see how it goes etc.

Thanks,
Trent

flush trans and refill. try that, otherwise have a look at your TPS and ISC

i know it sound stupid man, but check your battrery terminals. i had a problem with my gearbox in that it would not change into 4th. it tried to but just stayed in third. turned out that the battery terminal didnt have a good connection.

my tr is exactly the same . going to get auto serviced this week

may need a kickdown band adjustment
that can be done at a service

did you fix it? mine has the same thing. The check engine light appears occasionally. I check the diagnostics which tells me it's the Throttle Position Sensor... I still haven't fixed it yet though

may need a kickdown band adjustment
that can be done at a service

+1.

Most probably the kickdown. we used to have the problem in our old fairlane where it'd be extremely sluggish off the line. change of kickdown cable and hey presto, better. the sluggish might not even be your GB though. have you tried cycling through the gears when cold? Remembering that the 2nd gen auto slips into 2nd when stopped to reduce fuel cons/creep, maybe its taking off in 2nd:)

Mine was quite bad for a bit and cleared up a bit but was still intermittent.

My mechanic changed my front engine mount and I've not seen it again (he claimed that was causing it .. and it was quite warn as to be expected)

Also yeh check that TPS could cause you issues.. also if you have a verada or a wagon theres apparently a second microswitch which drops it to first taking off.. that used to cause my grief.. its a bit scary when it takes off in 2nd and you have oncoming traffic esp. when its cold!