I need some help. Quick.
I have a 98 Trooper. The trans has worked just fine until I got it back from the body shop. Some guy pulled out in front of me and trashed my front end. Now, the trans seems to slip now and again.
BTW, Trans fluid changed over to Mobil 1 at about 20K miles, and the filter was changed around 45K. Car has about 64K now.
Details below, but my question is. Can the impact alone, at about 40 mph, damage the transmission? The Trooper's engine didn't even stall at the crash, it simply blew the front end of a silly Honda down the road. Basically, can the transmission be damaged by such a sudden impact type stop? The nature of the crash was such I had time to remove my foot from the gas, I know that, but I'm not even sure my foot had started to press the break pedal.
The Trooper remained drivable. It was in the shop a few weeks for body work (most everything, windshield forward, except the lower frame rails and engine.) and I just got it back. Now it is mis-behaving and the "collision experts" (body shop) is trying to walk away. I'm about to go to the insurance company directly, but need some ammo, options, etc.
One detail, on return one of the trans cooler lines was not clamped. I lost about 1 quart of fluid before I noticed (only leaked when running, so no spots in driveway). Anyway, I fixed it and topped it up.
Now, the trans seems to slip under load. Not often, and by no means always, tho. Generally going up hills, or getting onto highways. Sometimes. All seems well, then when I would expect an up shift the tach starts to climb, rather than fall. If I back off on the gas, it will usually finish the shift. If I drop the lever into '3', it will usually drop into gear, but again, not always.
Q1: Can the simple forces of an impact stop damage transmission internals?
Q2: Are there connections that could have been screwed up at the body shop that could cause such mis-behavior?
Q3: Could running a quart low for a few dozen miles cause permenant damage?
Any one know? Thanks.
BK