Hey everyone im new to the forum but have been on many other forums(mustang,durango) and I just bought a 2004 dodge stratus es with 233,000 miles, yes its alot but it runs,looks great for what i paid, has the 2.4 in it! Anyway i have an issue when im in drive or reverse and sitting still with my foot on the brake, it vibrates really bad, if i shift it into park or neutral it stops and is fine. It doesnt idle rough when its in drive or reverse it just shakes real bad, any ideas on what this is? and also my transmission will shift extremely hard into second gear, like it jerks the car bad, but it only does it under light acceleration, if its harder acceleration it wont do it, and when im crusing at 35 through town i have to speed up to 38-40 for it to shift up, or else im sitting at 2100rpm, any idea there? Sorry for all the questions but id just like some input on it so i can fix it and hopefully ill be able to help around here with HID,LED, headlight, and detailing questions, those are kind of my strong points in cars!
Thanks in advance!

 

over 100 views and nothing? I really dont want to pay my mechanic $35 to solve this!

 

Check and change the trans fluid. Use the correct type (atf+4) ONLY!

If that doesn't work, it could be the torque converter failing. It's over 200,000mi afterall!