I'm looking for a bit of insight as to what's happening with the BTR 4 speed auto in my 1998 EL Futura... The car has 180,000km on the clock (original motor and auto) I've serviced the auto every 30,000 - 50,000km and it's always been good to drive (other than limp home mode when a shift solenoid needed replacing) just this morning I went to drive to work, I reversed down the driveway then put the gear selector in drive and the car wouldn't move and free revved, I put it back in neutral then drive again, still nothing... Went from Drive to 3rd and immediately the auto engaged and I could drive. It didn't seem like a slip and didn't clunk into gear, I would think if it was slipping it wouldn't matter if I selected D or 3 it would still slip right? The auto was serviced only 3000km ago and had the S2 shift solenoid replaced because it was faulty and I'd get stuck in limp home mode, also replaced the rear servo cover gasket as it was leaking, the fluid was quite dark and there was a very small amount of clutch fibre in the filter but it's been like that every auto service since I bought the car at 92,000km and I've been told that's how they wear... Never been a single metal shaving in the pan. I don't drive it hard either!

If anyone has had a similar experience or any clue as to what happened I'd be much appreciative to know what the go is, once I was moving in 3rd I selected drive and it was fine and haven't had a problem since. They only other thing that's strange about my auto is that when going down hill if I drop it back to 2nd the revs drop to idle revs and the car doesn't slow but if I go back up to 3rd the revs pick up and the car slows down, if I leave it in 2nd it will just roll until I rev the engine then the revs pick up and the car slows down but soon after the revs will drop again and it will keep rolling... It's done that for a couple of years now. Thanks in advance to any suggestions!

far as i know the fluid should NOT be quite dark. has it ever been flushed?

Check you inhibitors switch.

Yes it has been flushed but that was about 60,000km ago, last service the fluid was dropped twice because the box was in limp home mode and when it was first plugged into a computer it had no codes so I wanted to see inside the pan, it wasn't until after servicing the auto and plugging it into a diagnostic computer again that I realised it was a shift solenoid... Both times the fluid was a brown sort of colour... I know it ideally should be red... I was thinking inhibitor switch too but wanted to see if someone else thought so too before mentioning it. Also I wasn't sure if the inhibitor switch only stops the car being started in gear or also does more than that such as telling the computer which gear is selected as it has a metal rod going into it through the box into the selector... I notice if I put the dash into diagnostic mode and select the screen that shows the gears it seems to function properly and it correctly displays which gear the auto is in from 1st all the way up to park (1,2,3,D,N,R,P) I thought when the inhibitor switch is buggered it instead displays 0? I noticed it comes up as 0 when starting the car but quickly changes to the respective number/letter. Also heard that if you select 1st and the trans still shifts to 2nd the switch is buggered but mine locks which ever gear you select. Perhaps it's an intermittent thing and the switch is just starting to act up? I didn't have the dash in diagnostic mode when it played up as I had already started the car and was simply going to work. Thanks for your help guys and sorry for the long spiel but I'd rather be descriptive than vague!!!