1995 stratus only has first gear, no reverse or higher gears. Goes to neutral at 1-2 shift point, need to ignition cycle to restore first gear driving ability. This seems like a limp mode behavior but I understand it should go to 1 then 2 and stay in second gear. Checked tcm relay and fuse, swapped from other ones on fuse block and no change. Speedometer works. Checked and cleaned input sensor, solenoid and tcm connectors, pins and wiring. Checked grounds using multimeter, had 0.7 ohms from ground terminal to tcm and bell housing. Found a small amount of oil in solenoid pack connector. All solenoids show 2.5 ohms Fluid is looks and smells good, and is at proper level, no abuse, 60 k miles.

Here's the interesting part: When I remove the tcm relay or fuse, then I get no gear at all. To my way of thinking, this should mechanically force it into second gear limp mode by taking the electronics out of the picture entirely, so any connector or sensor problem is irrelevant, yet I get no drive at all. Would this be consistent with an internal solenoid pack failure? I don't get any engine code and don't have a tcm scanner available to me. Thanks

 

no reverse and no 2nd tells me you broke the sun gear shell that does 2nd and rev.

but if you think it's an electrical problem, the only way I could guess a fix it after using a quality scanner to actually determine the failure OR I'd use a hydraulic pressure gauge on the 2/4 and rev circuits. if it has pressure and no movement, I guarantee it's not an electrical problem, it would be a broken hard part

 

Sapporo was right about the broken shell gear. The sun gear had broken free from the shell where it had been welded. Thanks for the diagnosis.

 

cool, thanks for the follow up.