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Sorry in advance for the long post-have lots of symptoms. My transmission has been acting up for the last few weeks, and the car is undriveable for anything but the closest errands. After a few miles around town, it seems as if the car gets stuck in a high gear-very sluggish, even slipping when starting from stopped. If I stop the engine and restart, the transmission usually works normally again, shifting up through the gears, but I again have the problem after a few more miles.

I once or twice got code P0733, which reads as “3rd gear ratio incorrect”. I’ve searched the Board for posts on P0733, and found only one, by an 850 owner. It was suggested the PNP switch should be replaced, but there was no followup posts indicating whether the poster changed it and what the results were.

Lately I’ve noticed that when the transmission starts misbehaving, if I just shut the engine off, turn the key all the way off, wait less than 5 seconds, then restart, the car will drive away like normal. However, within a few minutes, the tranny starts acting up again. In these times, it throws no codes.

When this problem started a few weeks ago, the transmission trouble arrow light and the W and E lights would flash. Suspecting the PNP switch, I would stop the engine, move the shift lever from Park to Low 20 times (hoping there were dirty contacts on the PNP switch), restart, and the lights would not flash and the car was driveable for 15 to 20 minutes. The last couple of times I drove it though, which was just around the neighborhood on test drives, none of those lights came on, but the transmission still acted up.

In case you’re thinking of suggesting a flush-I flushed it about 250 miles ago. It ran fine for the first 150 miles, then the problems came out of the blue. Could the flush have brought this on?

Could accidentally driving the front end off a curb from a parking lot have caused any of this? Yes, it’s true. I wasn’t paying attention and saw the curb too late.

The fluid level looks good. I disconnected the PNP switch pigtail and applied di-electric grease. I checked the PNP switch for security and it seems to be on very securely. The reverse lights come on exactly when the shift lever goes into reverse, and go off the instant the lever is moved out of reverse. When I disconnected the PNP switch, I checked for codes and got P0705-Trans Range Sensor Circuit Malfunction. Would a malfunctioning PNP send any other codes? Or none at all?

I’ve owned it for just over a year, so most of what I know about it comes from the board. What can it be?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Mark