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I have a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse-GS that has 104,000 miles ...
Sent to Car Experts February 17 01:49 PM

I have a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse-GS that has 104,000 miles on it. In the past few months I have had a problem with the automatic transmission. While driving on the freeway at freeway speed it will suddenly go into passing gear, (4000 RPMs at 65 MPH) and will stay stuck there. The first time it happened I thought it was going back into third gear from overdrive or into second gear but not so. I can speed up or slow down it will not change it stays stuck in passing gear, have driven it for miles and it is still stuck in passing gear, (4000 RPMs at 65 MPH). Only when I pull over, stop, put it in park and turn the engine off, crank it back up and put it in drive does it start to work properly again. On two occasions the transmission actually stopped pulling while I was on the freeway. But after stopping and starting the car again it worked properly. I bought this car new and have always changed my transmission fluid and filter at 25,000 mile intervals. I have taken it to transmission shops and they can not find anything wrong with it. It is a very random occurance that has only happened maybe 5 to 6 times.
A few years ago I had a problem with my engine shutting off and restarting while on the freeway. I eventually found out that it was a problem with the engine computer. After I replaced it I never had that problem again. This car has two computers under the hood one for the engine the other is for the transmission.

 

Optional Information:
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse-GS 2.0

Already Tried:
changing trans fluid and filter.

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status:  Closed   Value: $15
Answer
February 18 3:46 PM (1 day and 1 hour later)
         
ACCEPTEDCheck Mark
What is happening is that your transmission is going into "limp-in " mode. This happens if the transmission control module loses an input signal from the input or output shaft speed sensors, or one of the shift solenoids. No way to know for sure what is causing the problem without doing a diagnostic on the trans with a scan tool. If there is a code for a solenoid or a speed sensor, that's the faulty part that needs to be replaced.

You can test the input and output shaft speed sensors as follows:
1. Disconnect the input or output speed sensor connector.
2. Measure the resistance between the input or output speed sensor side connector terminals 1 and Standard value: 0.3k - 1.2k ohms
3. If the resistance is outside the standard value, replace the sensor.

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