Questions and Answers

Oldsmobile Cutlass Ceira Early Lockup Q. I hope you can help; I traded a 1992 Pontiac Trans Sport for the 1989 Oldsmobile because it got lousy gas mileage, 13 mpg, because of an overdrive problem. When it warmed up it would kick out of overdrive. I am going to school now to be a master technician at Ohio Technical College in Cleveland Ohio. I am only six month's in and have a year to go.

I had access to a lift at the school, so we changed the fluid and TCC solenoid. It didn't help so I traded it for the Oldsmobile. See I drive a 100 miles a day to and from school and mileage is important to me. I go to school 25 hours a week and work 30 hours a week at a popular burger joint, and don't have much time to myself to study for classes. I could go on, but enough about my sob story and on to my problem.

As I said I have an 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ceira SL. 2.5 liter throttle body injection. It doesn't have AOD, but does have a lock up converter and that's the problem. It goes into lockup at 20 mph, way to early for lockup. That causes the car to jerk and carry on as if I had a standard transmission and went in to fifth gear before the mph was high enough.

When I am doing city driving where the speed limit is 35 mph I run the car in second gear to keep it from jerking. The fluid level is above full and has a lot of air bubbles on the dipstick. I tapped the brake while in lockup and it does disengage like it is supposed to. Would a dirty filter or being over full cause this? I know being overfull would cause air in the transmission and shifting problems, but not lockup?

It runs great on the highway. Is there a way to check the fluid level on the dipstick when it is cold, to find out if I have a blocked vent tube causing high fluid level and bubbles? I can't get an accurate reading when it is at temp. I can't afford to have the car break down due to school and work.

I am trying to keep my grades up so I can get into the BMW step program that is offered at my school. I am 35 years old and have always tried to fix something by myself, but sometimes a little knowledge from somebody else is a big help. So if you have any advice for me that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Rich

A. First, drain off some of the fluid. Then I would look at the PARK/NEUTRAL switch. The PARK/NEUTRAL switch indicates to the computer when the transmission is in park or neutral.

This information is used by the computer for ignition timing, Idle Air Control (IAC), and Transmission Torque Converter Clutch (TCC) operation. DO NOT drive the vehicle with the PARK/NEUTRAL switch disconnected, since idle quality may be affected.