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96 2.2 auto legacy died when put in gear


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today I was pulling out of a parking spot and my car died half way out so I fired it up again put it in gear and it immediately died. any gear other than park or neutral would cause it do die, I could feel the trans shift normally but when engaged the car would simply shut off no sputtering just off no  tcu or ecu codes....

 

I called AAA and when the driver showed up he assessed the vehicle and gave it throttle while shifting and it stayed running. at first he would have to keep the peddle down a bit to keep it from dieing but after a few minutes it was running and driving like normal.

 

fluid was a little bit low once only registering at the tip of the stick but then subsequent checks rendered in the mid side of cold....

 

I did a parking pawl reset and was forced to re use my old atf after it sat in an oil pan and pulled oil into itself. I also might have had a small piece of gasket floating around...

 

I filled the trans with more fluid and have yet to check the level after it clears out of the stick tube. the car seems to be running better now, hopefully it wont turn into anything big of others have had this kind of problem please let the info flow

 

as always thanks in advance.

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When was the last time the car had a real tuneup? When you put the car in gear the engine gets a drag on it from the torque converter. If you need a tune-up badly this can happen. A vacuum leak is another possible cause. Another possibility (which was an old GM problem and almost unheard of in other cars)) is for some reason the clutch on the torque converter may be locking up, but I cant figure out the scenario that would cause this to happen. Maybe a bad inhibitor switch?

 

Was there any CEL lights at any time?

 

Are you saying the tranny was low on fluid when this happened?

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yup all signs point to low tranny fluid causing this. I drove from fairfield, ca to reno, nv . the next day we drove to sparks parked and when we got back in it just did not want to stay running in gear! my car just had plugs, oil... has ngk wires... don't think it needs a tune up after adding a little more than a quart of atf the car seemed to feel less bogged and ran fine the rest of the way up to kirkwood, ca and then again back down to the bay area today. I don't see any seepage but I'm likely leaking out of my tailsection gasket I need to replace AGAIN! purely my fault.....

 

no cell from ecu or tcu I love my kiwi plx obdII scanner

 

I'm hoping no more major snags untill after 300K, 293k and counting!

Edited by bluedotsnow
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I'd do a fluid change ASAP, flush the system with 3 drain and fills or  pull the trans to radiator cooler hose and let the old fluid pump out.  Do a search on trans flush and you'll find the info.

 

Using old fluid is never a good idea.

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no its not neither is having a torn up tail housing gasket on a 4eat! I'll get to it in about a month after I bring in some money, no visible leaks or problems after adding about a half gallon of atf. it must pool in the tail section over time as I ran it through all the gears and then checked the fluid last time I serviced it.

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