Mirage vs. Transmission Problems

[Crankhat]

Is it my imagination or do Mirage's have alot of tranny problems? Mine is no different. I have a 1990 Mirage and it's been having a hard time getting to second and third gear. It dies sometimes after shaking violently and I have no idea what to do about it. Could it be something as simple as a wire unhooked or something equally simple? What should I do? My buddy turned the idle up the other day and that seemed to help a little. I realize it's going to burst into flames soon, but I hope to delay it as long as I can.

[evoryda]

ahahhahhahahaah, thats funny, burst into flames.. hard to do that. and your idle has nothin to do with ur tranny slippin in 2nd and 3rd so i dont see how that helped. ok 1 do you have a manual or automatic transmission, 2 manual trannys clutch maybe goin check it, 3 auto trannys torque converter maybe goin, 4 has the transmission fluid been changed its supposed to be changed every 35000 miles try changin it if not, and 5 have you changed your coolant/antifreeze lately cuz trannys are cooled by radiator too so if its low or not doin its job it could cause tranny to run hot and slip. i havent had any problems with mine.

[miravo4]

yea... what ever he said!!!^^^^
hahaha

[BLU3Fi5H]

Yeah, i think i know exactly what you're talking about.
I have a 93 Mitsubishi Mirage automatic, and it does something along the lines of that.
It started off not so bad, but then after driving it a few more times after it started, it got alot worse.
Now it is hard to even take off when i start it. I have to shift it manually or else it wont drive. It also just shifts at random. While i am taking off it will usually start off in a fairly high gear, then suddenly shift back to first, then to 3rd, then back to first, then just starts shifting at random after that. Seems once i am going at a decent speed like 100kph or 60mph it doesnt have as much problem.
It all started when i first changed the idle speed. I was told i had to change the idle speed on the tranny too, but i have no clue how to do something like that. Anyone have any ideas?
So i decided to set the idle back to where it was, but no luck, so i am assuming the trasmission control unit behind the stereo column is bad. Only problem is, in my area, the only cars i can find that match my car is the Dodge Colt, which has a 1.5 rather than the 1.8. But i was told the tranny would still wokr on my car.
Does the 1.5 tranny bolt to the 1.8 engine? If so, wouldnt the TCU off of a 1.5 tranny work on the 1.8 tranny?
As far as i knew they were the same....maybe i am wrong.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[evoryda]

have you tryed checkin the fluid level, that causes slippage too. and not all Colts are 1.5l, the 1.5l tranny can bolt up to the 1.8l but you cant use the tcu from 1.5 on a 1.8 cause they are different tranny internals 1.8s are spaced out more so that wouldnt work. ok long shot but have yall reset yalls ecu's, to do so unplug the negative terminal to the battery for 10+ mins then plug it back in. im tellin you to do this because it resets your tcu too therefore you can make your on shift points by manually shiftin your automatic at the rpm and speeds you want it to drop at. i think you have 50 miles or so to do this but dont be suprized if the tranny slips badly at first cause its not sure when to shift, itself. just work with it and it may work for you.

[BLU3Fi5H]

Man i wish i had seen that post sooner. lol
I JUST got back from picking up a TCU from a 1.5L. I sat down in the car, took a split second look at my TCU and DUH!! They are totally different. Now just too bad that i cant return it.
I didnt even think to check to see how many gears the 1.5L auto tranny had. I didnt know it had one less gear than my tranny does.
I might just get the whole tranny out of the 1.5L, although i cant imagine the gas milage being anything like my car was before with that missing gear. Oh well, we cant have everything in life i guess. hehe

I tried pullin the - terminal from the battery, waited an hour cause i forgot all about it due to a bunch of other distractions on our other car (95 Saturn...nuff said). I plugged it back in and got the same results.
However, when i plugged it back in i just put it in drive like i would have normally done and drove it that way.
Am i understanding this right? When i hook the ECU back up, i should shift it manually to mark where i want it to shift? THEN it should work properly again?

I changed my tranny fluid twice already within the last month just to make sure it was good, i also changed the tranny filter while i was at it just to help it flow a lil better. Didnt help of course.
However, i think i noticed something today...
While i am making a right hand turn it pretty much ALWAYS shifts into neutral by default, when i straighten it out, it seems better.
??I am wondering if it might just be a sensor in the tranny itself??
Any ideas on where i could get a list of components in the tranny? Or just a list of sensors that are in the tranny?

Thanks for your response by the way. I am going to try that manual shifting thing this time and see if it works.

[MidMazar]

I had a 95 mirage with about 100k on it and started to have tranny problems with it. At first it just grinded gears when i put it in third. Thought it was the clutch because i never replaced it and 4 people learned how to drive on it (manual). So replaced the clutch, nope same problem. After about 4 months the whole tranny went couldn't even shift. Replaced it with three different trannies and they all didn't work..WTF i said, finally got another one and it worked fine until the whip got stolen. So I guess mirages do have tranny problems, my suggestion to all mirage owners with manual transmissions not to down shift a lot. Thats what i was told by many people and found out the hard way myself, but just my two cents.

[BLU3Fi5H]

Anyone have any clue which trannies will fit on a 93 Mirage?
Preferably an automatic.
I know the 1.5 trannies off of Dodge Colts fit, but they are only 3 speed. The car came with a 4 speed auto so i am trying to keep it that way.
The tranny i got is just too messed up. Hoping to find a replacement at a local wreckers or something, but so far no luck. All they have around here are the 1.5 trannies.
I wonder if an auto tranny off of a Dodge Laser might work?