Have a tranny problem. My wife was driving our 1996 960 today and suddenly the car lost speed and then could no longer accelerate. Definite shifting problems. She was close to home and eventually made it to the driveway in '3' instead of 'D'. I have not driven the car myself (kind of late now and don't want to get stuck elsewhere). The description I got from my wife clearly points to the transmission. I did notice on one occasion while trying to accelerate hard on an uphill grade that the transmission was hunting gears and the car was not making good headway.

I thought I'd check the transmission fluid so went to the owners manual and > low and behold (!) there's very little in there about the transmission and no suggestion at all about how to check the level. It does mention a capacity of 7.5 litres.

2 questions - How can I check the fluid level and top off if necessary?
How likely is it that this is a really *bad* problem about to require R&R of the transmission?

Many thanks!

longhorizon
'67 Duett (and a more troublesome 960).

Hi - saw your post - exactly the same thing happened when driving my 1998 S90 with 165k km on the clock - long story short - AUD $3,500 later and 2 weeks waiting on parts all back on the road. It wasn't the Transmission Control Unit it was the transmission itself, broken bits inside, completely replaced the transmission and reprogrammed the TCU. Sorry, not an expert, but it was an expensive situation.

To check the fluid level, the car needs to be on a level surface, the engine at idle and in park. Before getting to the dip stick, move the gear selector into each of the gears for a few seconds each. The check the dip stick, which is found along the fire wall, between the brake booster and the engine, way down low. It is yellow with no tab to grab with your fingers, there is square hole in it designed to reach it with a 3/8" rachet extension.

Check level, color and odor. It sounds like the lock up did not disengage and so the car was moving in a high gear which would make it loose power at a slow speed. Most likely all that is need is a transmission fluid flush, and renew the fluid with a synthetic type. The FAQ has the steps to do it your self. I try do this to mine every 50K miles.

DanR '94 964 334,000 miles (100,000 on the new engine)
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DanR

Had this happen on the motorway about a year ago. Not being one to fiddle with things my 960 had been in "E" drive for the time i had the car 3yrs so i decided to try it in "S" for a while. Was like this for about 3 to 4 days but decided to return to "E" as the gas pedal seemed less sensitive in this mode. I had previously checked my trans fluid level by pushing the gear lever through the gate a number of times before checking the stick.This apparently also cleans the PNP switch. On the motorway the car suddenly dropped the speed from about 90mph gradually me going flat out to compensate, but eventually on the hard shoulder doing about 20mph, i pushed the "E" to "S" and "W" switch quite violently, to no avail, then suddenly whoosh! we were of again and doing 80mph. It has not happened since and i have not bothered with it as it must of been that PNP switch. It is still in "E". Hope this helps?