Hey guys, been a while.

Last year in NH we had a mild winter, and it treated the Old White Dragon pretty well. This year, we've been getting bellow 20s every night, and my car is really struggling.

From a cold start, my car will not shift out of first, it will rev up but it will not shift.

If it does, it does it again around 30mph, and again around 45-55mph. It also randomly downshifts on the highway, and that happens even when the car has been on the road.

from a stop to a start, its like im towing something and it feels like the gears may be slipping

Another thing i thought was weird i only noticed tonight: the engine was running really cool, like 140-150. normally operates around 210. Which leads to a weird issue where the heater blower is blowing any heat, except on defrost.

I think the transmission is going, but im not sure whats up with the other stuff. I have a feeling its not gonna make it past the winter.

Hi,

Have you checked your transmission fluid level? Park the car on a level surface with the engine hot and idling, shift the transmission slowly through each gear and back to park, then check the transmission fluid level.

Have you checked your coolant level?

If you've already done all that then you're probably headed to a shop for some repairs, unless you're planning on fixing this yourself, in which case, I can be of no further help.

Avoid the "chain" businesses, go with a GM dealership or an independantly owned shop that you trust. You may end up paying a little more but you're more likely to get a good result. (or, you may end up paying less because it was fixed right the first time!)

Well it was definitely the transmission fluid. I added 5 quarts to bring it back up to normal, and it fixed the issue. I made a trip down to CT this weekend, and I double checked before I was headed back to NH tonight, and sure enough, it was low. I had to add about 2 more quarts.

Both times I checked, I never noticed fluid on the ground. Someone told me that trans fluid doesn't burn off, so where is it all going?

So I guess I was wrong. Maybe the long drive home tonight, then drive to work opened up the leak or something, because when I got back to my car after my shift, there was a huge puddle beneath it. I checked the trans level and it was bellow normal, but I got it home anyway. When I checked it at home, there was crap dripping everywhere. The coolant reservoir was filled with a brown liquid, which clearly was not coolant, and it had overflowed everywhere.

Looks like the trans isnt the only issue... Cracked head gasket?

It could be a number of issues, obviously the transmission is leaking somewhere (unless you over filled it) and as far as the coolant issue, it could be a number of things too.

Get it looked at really soon, the longer you drive it loosing fluids like that, the more likely it is that it will be junkyard material.