a mystery

[battleax]

This is a '90 automatic...

 

So i was out on the trails last night, and fell into a VERY big mud hole- it took about 2 hrs for us to push and pull the pathy through what became a glorified k-turn. obviously, the truck was periodically revved high (up to 4k in 4-Lo) during this time, and the tranny was packed in mud. At one point, there was a nasty pop and then some scraping from the front end, but as soon as i let off the gas it stopped and then did not reoccur...the truck ran just fine through the rest of the ordeal. My bud who was pushing said that at that point he smelled something like a broken head gasket, but now I'm pretty sure that was not the case (after checking temp, coolant, exhaust, oil, etc. for the familiar signs). BUT- upon getting back out, the tranny started behaving strangely: it was very sluggish off the line (felt like it was trying to start in 3rd), and refused to go above 3,000rpms. I brought it back into town very slowly, the engine ran smooth and cool and the tranny shifted well, just never above 3k rpms. I parked it and restarted the engine: the power switch on the dash blinked at me. At this point it was late, so I said screw it, I'll run the diagnostic tests in the morning. So yeah, I had a few nightmares about the torque converter last night.

 

This morning: start it right up (no blinking of the power switch, but I run the tests anyway, they turn up normal.), she accelerates, shifts and runs right up to the redline no problem, as if nothing had ever happened. This has been the case all day today. Temp. is fine, fluids are fine, truck runs great. So it looks to me like the TCU put the pathy in "limp home mode" last night, right?

 

But why would it do that if there is nothing wrong?

 

or,

 

Why would it seem like nothing is wrong when something really is?

 

 

Anyone heard/seen this before?

 

Thanks!

[5523Pathfinder]

Sound like what the newer tranmissions will do when they overheat. I would double check the fluid and make sure its ok, color and smell. I can check the manual tomorrow for anything like that.

[nismothunder]

Mine did the same thing yester day.My dip stick popped out and shot 3+ quirts out.It was sluggest and would shift out of 2nd gear or rev good(above 4k)

[Tungsten]

yep dip stick shot out due to heat