I have a 1993 Dodge Dynasty V6 3.3 automatic transmission, 176000 miles that I have had for just one month. Yesterday the whole car started jerking a bit for the first few seconds when I backed it out of the garage but not real bad, then it smoothed out in just a few seconds and drove fine rest of the day.

Today when I back it out of the garage I put it into gear and it moved about 10 feet then started to jerk really hard about 3 or 4 time so I quickly took it out of gear. It hasn't moved since. Now when I put it in gear either Reverse, Drive or Low it's like the transmission is pulling the motor down and dies within just a couple of seconds as if the transmission or torque converter is almost locked up. Maybe it's stuck in two gears if that is possible, I don't know. I haven't crawled under it yet to look at the pan but I believe it is the A604 tranny. If I give it some gas it will still die but will jerk the whole car a couple times before it does. But even when it jerks it doesn't move. I let it warm up to get the fluid warm and that made no difference. Transmission fluid level is fine.

Any ideas?

P.S. I search the forum but couldn't find anything on this.

dear hapless dynasty owner,
I hate to tell you but likely one of two things has happened, neither good. One is that the trans. oil cooler in the radiator has clogged and burned up the transmission. This can be checked easily if you disconnect it and attach some hoses to it and flush it out with kerosene back and forth several times until it comes out clean. If you have an air compressor, you can buy six feet of clear flexible hose from Lowes for a refrigerator, clamp 5 feet of it on the output side and 1 foot on the input side and backflush it into a container. You do that by plugging the 1 ft. piece and holding up the 5 ft. piece and fill it with kerosene with a funnel. Then blow the compressor into the 5 ft piece and push the kerosene back through the cooler. If it is full of crud, probably the torque convertor is ruined. If it is just that, it is not the worst. If it cooked the transmission you will have to replace it all. Not cheap. I have had several of these type transmissions and I can't tell you anything encouraging about your problem. On My 1990 you could unbolt the computer on the firewall and pull it off and it would go in the limp in mode. That would tell you perhaps if the tranny was the problem it the thing works upon doing this. I am not a mechanic, just a guy that has had some problems like this. Maybe someone knows a simpler fix. I would drop the pan anyway and look for junk. If might want to invest in the napa rubber gasket for this unit, you can reuse it many times with no goop. Don't overtighten. If the fluid is really brown, try a fluid change. If it makes any difference, change it again in a few miles then change it a third time. It will replace all but one quart of the fluid for way less than a flush out without the risks. but if the cooler is full of crud, the torque converter (if it is the lock up type) has probably self destructed.
Sorry,
Terry

Thanks for the reply Terry. It was actually just a stuck lock-up-solenoid on the outside of the tranny. Replaced that and all was good! I should have posted that here but forgot all about it!