A friend is offering a 1990 Acura Legend L with 95K miles for a very low price, but the transmission doesn't start in Low gear when it is cold.
They have been shifting it manually until the car warms up and then it shifts normally until it cools down again.
Two garages have given an opinion on it: One suggested rebuilding the transmission. The other thought it might be an electronic control problem. One of the garages advised against changing the fluid. That seems strange to me; it's the first thing I would do..
They have been driving it in the summer only for the last 3 years this way and it hasn't changed. Other than the shift behavior when it is cold, the engine and transmission perform as expected.
This car is a summer car used in the midwest, although it spent most of its life in the SW and has probably never seen really cold weather, but plenty of high temps.
It probably hasn't had the fluid changed for at least the last 30K miles and maybe not even then.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions you have, Doug