I have noticed a while back, when cruising at 50 with minimal throttle, the car has ben dropping into 2nd gear out of nowhere, i have slowed down to 35-40 and gave it some balls to 50 again and still holding. i have put the gear into "low" but still holding in 2nd. Also when doing up a resonable lengh hill at 80, it starts in 4th then goes down to 3rd, but when i get to the top of the hill (still doing 80) i use minimal throttle again but stays in third, then about 7 seconds later the revs go to about 3500rpm then slams into 4th again. anyone have an idea at all?

(oil is still good, 153,836km on clock)

stop driving it now, and check the trans fluid level, make sure it is pink or clear in colour. to check it, either start the car put it in neutral, then check the dipstick. it should be in the could range. or if the car has just been driven. do the same thing and it should be in the warm range. it may be that the wave spring has broken, and is working at destroying the oil pump. if you stop driving it now, and get it looked at, you may save yourself the trouble of getting a new transmission. if you keep driving it, the car is likely to crap itself, then its hello new tranny, goodbye 3,000 dollars.

checked the colour, like you said, its a clear pink shade colour

Check that your heater core is not leaking over the ecu, this is a common issue, ahve done 3 this month alone, and no turning off the heater will nto stop the leak or the flow lol

Thre are a few threads on this, pretty much pull back carpet on pass side nearest the tunnel, look at ecu and see if damp or mess over it

nothing at all, bone dry

I have the same problem, No wetness on passenger side (so rules out heater core)
Usually my car (auto also) will over rev into gear and clunk into the next corresponding gear. Sometimes shudders up extremely steep hills.. Dunno if this has anything to do with the current problem.
156 *** k on the clock. Auto has just recently been flushed.

if its a step hill it will choose 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th going up a 100kmh hill. Same doing 60, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd

stop driving it now, and check the trans fluid level, make sure it is pink or clear in colour. to check it, either start the car put it in neutral, then check the dipstick. it should be in the could range. or if the car has just been driven. do the same thing and it should be in the warm range. it may be that the wave spring has broken, and is working at destroying the oil pump. if you stop driving it now, and get it looked at, you may save yourself the trouble of getting a new transmission. if you keep driving it, the car is likely to crap itself, then its hello new tranny, goodbye 3,000 dollars.

Can we have a sticky thread that actually lists the known failed wave spring symptoms?

Mal? I know you mentioned some of them recently somewhere...

For reference, I found this site which explains the wave spring failure results. (http://www.transmissiondigest.com/tech/TD200508/200508ShiftPointers/200508ShiftPointers.htm) They mention that aftermarket transmission filters stop the wave spring pieces from ending up in the oil pump, because the Mitsu filter is badly designed.

Can we have a sticky thread that actually lists the known failed wave spring symptoms?

Mal? I know you mentioned some of them recently somewhere...

For reference, I found this site which explains the wave spring failure results. (http://www.transmissiondigest.com/tech/TD200508/200508ShiftPointers/200508ShiftPointers.htm) They mention that aftermarket transmission filters stop the wave spring pieces from ending up in the oil pump, because the Mitsu filter is badly designed.

if i owned an auto, at any sign of problem i would stop driving it, until i was sure of the problem. mainly due to the fact that they are so fragile once they start playing up. not like a manual, where you can loose first 3rd and 5th. or even when the syncros get chewed, and you can still drive it once you have giver it a thorough flush.