First off : I have a 96 intrepid 3.3 and I am not sure if all the intrepids came with overdrive but mine did. The floor gear shifter reads
P
R
N
D with a big O around the D
3
L

My problem started with driving at hwy speeds and all of a sudden the car downshifts and the engine revs up and the only way to get it to go back to normal is to pull over and shut the car off and restart it and it will be fine for awhile and nowit will shift to 2nd gear but won't shift anymore no matter what I do. I have been reading all the posts saying to change the speed sensors so I did change the input since my speedo works fine. The new speed sensor didn't change anything.

I took it to a tranny shop but they wanted $127.00 to tell me if my transmission was shot or if it is a computer problem. I do have a little metal shavings in my pan but the trans fluid is red and smells fine.
The tranny shop told me there were a few error codes basically about upshifting and downshifting at certain speeds but couldn't or wouldn't tell me if the tranny is shot.

All I want to know if the tranny is bad or there is a computer problem.

Please help me my wife keeps bugging me about a new car and we can't afford a car payment.

 

The $127 is a lot cheaper than a car payment! You may want to reconsider the offer at the shop. (it sounds like a malfunction in the trany but if the TCM Is the culprit I don't think you have the equipment to reprogram it anyway after replacement)

 

So if the Transmission Control Module is out, I wouldn't be able to replace it and be back on the road again ?? Why does Dodge make everything so difficult ?? I know they are not the only ones that does this computer crap. It is just frustrating not knowing what it could be nothing like the old days.

 

Correct, you need a quick learn done with a DRB scan tool (you can find one of these used on e-bay for around $3000, but new they run 6-7K$)

 

The car is stuck in second gear because it is in limp mode. The computer knows that something is wrong and is telling you to limp to the dealer. For something like that, take it to the dealer.

 

The transmission went into limp in mode, Thats why your trans down shifted to 2nd gear. Until you turn the key off and restarted. You need to have a scanner hook up and ck for codes.