Ok, driving home today on the parkway, ~65 mph. Car was completely fine for a while but randomly in the middle of the trip it started acting up. It's kind of hard to describe what exactly was happening, but basically it felt like it was slipping into neutral. I would completely lose power, and RPMs would drop to about 2000. It usually would do this for about 3 seconds and then stop for 1 or 2 and then do it again. With my hand on the transmission selector I could feel the vibration in the tranny when it was being normal, but as soon as it would get messed up I couldn't feel any vibration. After this went on for about a minute I got worried and pulled over, checked around under the hood, restarted the car and it didn't happen again the rest of the way home. I have my rear carpets pulled up so I can hear the exhaust quite clearly, and if I gave it a little gas while this went on I couldn't really hear any change in noise from the back. Any ideas?

 

Is your engine light on?

Willie

 

Yes, it's been on for a while, but unfortunately I'm just a poor college student and I have to move pretty slow in fixing all the issues this truck has. I also can't get the codes read till this weekend.

 

It could be something causing the engine to run rough and sending vibration through the transmission. How does it run at lower speeds?

Willie

 

Usually just fine. This didn't happen again at all after it stopped. My coolant is well passed the replacement point, and I know I need new plugs and wires. Could either of those have anything to do with it?

 

The coolant has nothing to do with it.
Check your trans fluid level first.
But without having the trouble codes it is hard to know where to start.
It could have been the VSS (vehicle speed sensor), or just a fluke.

 

Ok, I'll check the tranny tomorrow morning, and this weekend when I'm home I'll have the codes read and bump the topic. Thanks guys.