Questions and Answers
Avenger Shifting Problem?
Q. Hi Vince, I bought my 1996 Dodge Avenger two years ago with 100,000 kilometers, (62,137 miles) now it has 130,000 kilometers (80,778 miles). The engine is a 2.5 liter 24V V-6. Since the beginning of this year, my transmission has been acting funny. As I would slow down at a stop light, the car would gear down as it should.
But as soon as I was almost stopped, the RPMs would jump up slightly and the car would jolt as if the gears were changing really roughly. A few months later, I blew my third and fourth gears. Luckily, it was still under warranty, so I took it in, and had it re-built. I thought that the problem would have been fixed, but it hasn't.
Could it be that it's not the transmission after all? Could it be something to do with the engine? Also, sometimes when my car is idling, I hear a knocking sound from the engine, I don't think it's the valves because it doesn't do it all the time. Someone told me that it might be my EGR valve? Could you please help me out?
Thank you,
StressedA. It is possible you have an engine problem and not a transmission problem. Quite often a transmission is blamed for an engine problem. In fact I wrote an article on this subject, Engine Testing With a Vacuum Gauge.
I would think that the shop who rebuilt the transmission would have noticed this problem and, at least, made you aware of the possible cause At this point I would recommend pulling the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) from both the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) and Transmission Control Module (TCM) and see what comes up. This will give a starting point for diagnosis
.If the condition is easily reproduced, I would also recommend taking a road test with the technician who did the transmission work.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
