Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

Dear experts,
I purchased a '97 Camry (v6) with 103K miles on it in October 2006. It has till now never given me any trouble,
and I have always gotten the routine service done. (Done an oil change, fuel filter change, air filter change, and
rear brakes). Recently I did a long road trip (~1700 miles). My car still seemed to be in a good shape.
However, recently when I drive on the freeway, occasionally it starts vibrating and shaking a whole lot when
I try to exceed 60 mph. The vibration and shaking continues for about 5 minutes (accompanied by some kind
of a periodic thumping sound), and then the car seems to resume normal activity. Initially I read on some forums
that it could be a firing issue, and got my spark plugs changed and fuel injection system cleaned.

However, it is still doing the same thing! One thing I have noticed is that the end of the severe vibration is usually
accompanied by a gear shift (sounds like that). After this occurs, the car starts to lose drive very rapidly. Usually
in Drive mode, the car does 10-15 mph easily without pressing the accelerator. Once this happens, the car comes
to a halt even in Drive mode! It seems to ride rough and heavy at low speeds after this. If I shut it, and start it
after an hour or so, it behaves like nothing happened. At wit's end. Any help is appreciated!

RE: Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

One more thing: No engine light is on. I also had the transmission fluid changed recently (before my road trip).

RE: Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

It sounds to mike like maybe one of the gears in your transmission is damaged. I would bring it to a tranny shop and see what they can come up with.

RE: Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

I'll second that transmisson advise. I've heard of fluke cases where flushing the fluid in a transmission will bring problems to the surface. Not that flushing it was bad but it may have already been bad but removing all the gunk in the fluid actually made a bad internal seal noticeable. A transmision place or even most full service shops should be able to check for transmission codes. Good luck and let us know what the outcome is.

RE: Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

yeah they are right. transmission damage

RE: Car starts shaking, loses drive
 

yeah that's true... i've experience that before...