Hi, I am really new to this and this forum is my last resort. My 95 Dodge Avenger ES started having transmission problems a month ago. The tranmission would get stuck in second gear for no apparant reason. The car drives fine and I am able to drive my car up to 45mph at 4,000 RPMs for the past month. Every once in a while my tranmission will work again and the gears will shift. Although, for the past 2 weeks my tranmission has stayed stuck in second gear. I took it to AAMCO about a month ago and they replaced my PCM and flushed my transmission and that did nothing at all. They refunded me and told me that it was most likely an electrical problem that is to hard to find. Everything works, the check engine light might come on once every blue moon but thats about it. It drives perfect! AAMCO said my tranmission was fine and it didn't need to be replaced. I have no clue what is wrong and my friend told me that I might be able to find some help on this forum. Well if anyone is having a similar problem please post and help me out. Thanks!

 

Oh I forgot to mention that my transmission is automatic.

 

One more thing, AAMCO said that something in my car might be shorting out my PCM computer...I also took the car to the dodge dealership and they told me my TCM (Tranmission Control Modul) wasn't recieving power and they didnt know why. They wanted me to pay an extra $200.00 so they can run a longer diagnostic. I figured they wouldn't find anything like AAMCO so I took the car back...If anyone can help me or even give me suggestions I would highly appreciate it, Thankyou!

 

is your speedometer working

 

Yes, my speedometer is working perfectly.

 

Does anyone have even a clue?

 

The tranny fluid(s) that AAMCO uses won't work, unless they used Mopar ATF+3. Our A604s specs are too tight for your run of the mill over the counter fluid.
The one thing that I didn't see mentioned is the clutch pack, firewall relays (which btw, completes the tranny circuit [EATX relay]). I've only noticed the more higher priced things listed.
Try swapping out the relays on the firewall with each other.
Also, listen to the ratcheting noise when you shift from Park to Drive or Reverse. If you don't hear it at all, there's a problem. At this point in it's life, they should be audible, more so than when it was new.

 

Is it bad for me to replace the relays on my firewall? Do I just change it like a fuse? What if one is broken? Will is break something else? Also, If I need to replace it, there are four of them as far as I can tell...which one is the transmission?

 

It's not bad to replace the relays. I believe, off the top of my head, that the EATX relay is the third from the left. The fourth relay is unknown, lol. You can just pull the relays out and swap them around first to see if the other components are affected by that one relay. Just a note, mark the relays, i.e....1..2..3..4 so that you can post back if it fixes your issue and so that you will know which one to replace.
Here's more info on that too.

 

I tryed to open up the relay case but it wont open...Do I pull up on it, im a little confused. Also, am I suppose to disconnect the battery or it doesnt really matter like the fuses? It would be amazing if these relays were the simple cause of the tranmission problem.