I have a 2000 Protege with the 1.6L and auto transmission. Sometimes , like once every 6 months the tranny will just violently jerk the whole car . I am almost certain its the tranny . But like i said , it just does this once every 6 months or so . I have had it since new and i do all the work on this car . Anyone know or heard of this? I also experienced it with a 2002 Protege with the 2.0L engine. I drive that one as a student driver car and had it do it once also . Anyone know what this is?

 

We have a 2 ltr. 2002 with 78K miles. I notice an occasional slipping between 1 & 2nd. I drained and replaced the ATF (Mercon 5) and the problem cleared up. I thought it unusual that there is a drain plug on the trans. No need to remove the pan (other than changing the filter). It still doesn't drain the torque converter, but it gets most of it out.

 

It seems like a harsh and violent "jerk" as it jerks the whole car . Its not when gears are shifting because it always happpens when i'm in top gear and cruising down the road nice and easy and nothing is under load. Anyone know what this could be ? This is two different Prtege's doing this with 2 different engines but possibly the same transmissions , so that why i say its the tranny . Anyone know if the tranny's on 2000 and 2002 are the same?