I have been having some concerns about the transmission on my 98 SE Contour (ATX). For the past couple months, I've noticed that the transmission seems to have a hard time getting into gear while accelerating - it seemed to rev higher than usual before switching gears (~3000 - 3500 RPM). The performance change has been barely noticeable, and I thought maybe it was my imagination.
Well, this past weekend, I did a bunch of work on the car (all work listed for completeness):
1. Installed new stereo.
2. Cleaned Battery Terminals (extremely corroded)
3. Replaced Cabin Air Filter
4. Changed oil & filter
5. Cleaned EGR Passages (my CEL has been on for the past month)
6. Drained/Replaced Tranny Fluid 3x (the fluid that was in there looked like used motor oil - I doubt the previous owner ever changed it).
After doing the work, I've noticed that now the car seems to have an even harder time getting into gear under acceleration (revs 3500 - 4000 before shifting), and if I accelerate hard, it gets as high as 5500 RPM (once it almost got into the red area). I've also noticed that if I accelerate and then brake quickly, the car seems to clunk.
It's become obvious that something is wrong. My question is, should I be taking the car to a transmission shop? Is there anything I can do to alleviate the problem?
Below is some further info on the car. Thanks for any inputs you can provide!
Contour 98 SE
ATX - 69000 miles
