Transmission problems

The transmission on my camry stopped working suddenly. I know its not usually suddenly but we have only had the car for 2 months bought used. The transmission break down is not really unexpected but the nature is. First after receiving the car we slowly checked fluids through out the month and the last thing we checked was transmission. There is more to this delay but I will keep that short. We drove the car one day and it began chugging and slipping. My son was able to nurse the car home after about a mile or 2. This began the diagnostics. The trans, when I drove it, would not go in any of the drives and move forward. Reverse works and works every time. The trans was down 2 quarts we loaded the oil and proceeded to test but to no avail, still same symptoms. Oil color, though not terribly sure looked somewhat OK and obviously changed caracteristics after I put the oil in. We cycled the gears to see if maybe we could get air bubbles or fill in some potential air gaps or circulation issues with the trans. Trans was warm during this process but still No avail. I was geeting a little irritated so I raced the engine and noticed that at about 3500 to 4500 RPM I could intermitantly engage the trans. I eventually got the car to go around the block in forward but with a racing engine. It would some times kick in and out of gear with a hard bam though! The RPMs when moving to engage the trans were reduced on occasion to about 3000 RPM to engage. At about 40mph and above it appeared that the trans seemed to work in normal opperation. Business as usual. Kind of! Not 100% sure of down shifting when I started to slow down below the noted speed. I eventually nursed the camry to the AutoZone for diagnostic codes and sure enough they did not have older meters to read the car. I eventually was able to check the front solenoid and believe it to work. Just by Ohm test. About 24 ohms. I could not reach any of the other 2 solenoids to measure I could barely reach the solenoid on the top rear of the trans but could not pop the connector with out breaking it. Yet! So the issue is do I have a possible fluid problem like lack of fluid in the torq convertor from the fluid level getting to low? Or could it be a Solenoid not shifting any gears? Why only reverse? Are there other simple tests I can conduct. Could it be the computer? I do fear ruining the clutch rings by doing what I did so I want to minimize tha excursion. It seems to be much like an on and of switch to be fluid. Like electrical but My next thought was to take to a trans shop but for them to tell me the problem only and I would repair myself, providing somewhat easy. I have replaced the trans in my S-10 and know that its a bitch and want to avoid at all cost. If it turns out to be the clutch pads, rings, whatever they are called in an automatic I will have a pro do it.I think. I just want to be informed before I go to trans shop to not be ripped off just because the easy thing for the shop to do is replace the whole thing and I foot that bill.

During cold weather automatic transmission will not shift into high gear until car has been running for 15-20 minutes, after that it operates normally.

Yesterday it had a first slight slip. Today lost everything? No movement in any gear. I checked the transmission oil its clean and doesn't smell burnt. Seems over full if anything.

I would think its the sensor that makes the gears shift.

Thanks, first I found that the trans axile was bad, replaced that now the car would drive about one block then stop. After further investigation we found that maybe the transmition filter was clogged? So took the pan off and cleaned it ( it didn't look dirty). But we put it back together and it works perfect!

My 1998 Camry V-6 has 128,000 miles and runs excellent. There is one issue. When slowing to a stop, the last downshift sometimes comes with a slight bang. Is it possible for this to be corrected with a adjustment of the computer. A reprogram? I've regularly had the transmission fluid flushed by Toyota.

Thanks for the reply rivermikerat. Are there inexpensive code readers I could pick up at the loacal auto store?

I have a '97 Camry. Every time I shift from P to R, or R to D or D to R, it jerks and kinda jumps. There's also a slight thud, like its knocking into something.

But once it starts moving, it is smooth.

My mechanic thought it was the engine mount rubbers, but their replacement didn't change a thing. Added new transmission fluid, no change still.

Any assistance/suggestions will be much appreciated.

I have the same problem, my mechanic told me that one of my cars moter mounts was broken and one was warped. I drive a 92 Toyota Paseo. Hope that helps some.

Would I have gotten a check engine light if a code was stored

So, VolcomSoldier06. Did chnaging the motor mounts solve the problem?