i have an 03 neon auto tranny.. the other day while driving, my car had trouble getting out of gear after i downshifted goin down a steep hill.. then the engine light went on.. since then, if i want to use my gears to go up or down steep hills my car will not get into/out of gear (sounds like it gets stuck in first).. if i don't use the gears the car runs fine.. i think it's a bad sensor.. is it an O2/speed sensor?? if so where on the car can i find it?

 

Umm...changing gears on an auto is not a good idea. Why don't you just put the pedal to floor when going up a hill, your car should switch gears on its own, hence the word "automatic". And when going down hills its going to be in the highest gear just coasting, why would you want to change that. Check which code you're throwing.

 

No. Its not a bad sensor. Sorry. But the fact of the matter is you are ruining the transmission by switching gears manually in it. Like SXT said. You are not supposed to manually shift an automatic.

If you want a manual transmission, then I suggest spending the few hundred dollars it requires to swap the ATX out for an MTX and you can send your ATX to me, I need a donor for my race tranny.

STOP SHIFTING GEARS! You are taking the automatics job away from it. An automatic will shift gears quicker and more efficently than any human can ever hope to do so on an MTX.

I can almost guarantee that your poor little ATX is on it's last leg. You can prolong it's death by doing the right thing.

1) Stop manually shifting it. It probably won't stop it from dying but it certaintly won't create any more damage.

2) Drop the pan, look at the magnet, see the damage you've done for yourself. Servie it, change the filter, fluid and adjust the bands.

3) Start shopping for a new tranny. Although if you do stop shifting you may have a good chance that it'll last a long long time but from what you were saying I highly doubt it.

 

By what I read I hope you are meaning that you are not touching the gear shift after you put it in gear and drive, but as has been said many a time on here and is very true automatics are meant to be autos, and manuals are meant to be MTX, but if not use the auto as meant, if not but a MTX and do the switch!!!!!!!!!!

 

The manual that came with the car only recomends shifting into 3rd when going down a steep hill, and putting it in low when you are going to work the tranny hard like when pulling a trailer, other wise you may make the tranny over heat and when that happens it dectects a problem and reverts back to only seond gear, like a fail safe so you can make it to a dealer and get the problem fixed.

 

You should never tow a trailer in 1st gear. Ever.

If you do I hope you aren't planning on driving very far. 1st gear's top speed is 30mph.

 

Crazy, I think he meant while starting off or going up a hill or something, but the question arises, why would you put a trailer on the back of a neon, u wanna pull a trailer buy a Ram or at least a Dakota

 

yeah I am not sure the towing capacity of a neon, but I would not tow much more than a small, small trailer for any length of time.