Weird engine problems on 98 I30T

[I30T]

well, i think it al stems from two incidents: being in the mountains (but not going up too bad of an incline), and needing more power and the engine would just not put me over 65 mph... a few days later, on the way to work I thought I ran out of gas (the car died uphill), but i was able to start back up and make it all the way to the gas station (i've never run out of gas before, so i dont know if that is how **** usually goes).

anyway, my problem -

Now, i think its when the auto hits third gear, it will just stay at about 1900 rpm. if i increase throttle it goes faster but it feels the way it does when you increase while youre on cruise control. if i tap the brake, it lets off of the 1900 rpm mark but as soon as i start to accelerate again it does the same bull**** (most of the time). i checked trans. fluid today, and thats definitely not low, i'm wondering if its something else easily fixed? its about time for it to get a lot of maintenance (110k).

thanks for the help!

[elwesso]

moved to maxima forum.

[LA02MAX]

Let me see if I can understand the problem correctly:

So say you're cruising at a steady speed (60 for example) and you floor it, it doesn't downshift?

Or are you saying that as you're accelerating from a stop, and your transmission hits third gear, it stops accelerating? If you floor it, does it go to the lowest possible gear?

Is the car not downshifting at all? 1900 rpms is very low to be accelerating, so if you're flooring it and it's just staying there, there is definitely something wrong with your transmission. Can you hit redline fine in 1st or 2nd gear?

[MinisterofDOOM]

What happens if, at 65, you manually shift into a lower gear? Does the transmission obey? If so, will the engine rev past 1900 once in the lower gear? Or does it stay in third and continue bogging?

[I30T]

right. if its in this mood, and im going about 60 and then floor it, it will just barely speed up.

its an off and on problem, though. if i drive it hard and fast it seems to work ok, and driving slow and precariously also results in it acting pretty normal, but in the mornings, when its been cold, and im not at interstate speeds but going on roads and staying between 50 and 70 is when it starts to act up.