Not specifically Isuzu related, but does deal with cars and i figured one of my much more knowledge isuzu buddies might be able to offer some advice....

I've been driving my friends '90 Jeep Cherokee to save a little gas/tire wear on the Rodeo the past two weeks. Anyway, yesterday the auto tranny starts screwing with me and i know absolutely nothing about auto trannys.

first off, its a 3-speed automatic. What happens, it waits til about 500rpms below redline to shift into 2nd (4500rpms). shifts smooths and grabs fine though. and secondly, if you let off the gas, the rpms drop and then when you repress the accelerator the rpms have to climb back up before you get any power. haven't been fast enough to see if it shifts into 3rd or not. And it does this same deal in D, 2, or 1. And this behavor happened instaneous. I drove it normal one moment, parked, and then this. It cooled overnight and still have the problem this morning.

Now, about all i know to check on these things is fluid level... which seems to be fine. Also fluid appears to be in fairly decent shape, no burnt smell or bad discoloration. I hunted for vaccumm leaks but didn't see any obvious ones.

any of you guys with more automatic tranny experience help me out here and hazard a guess as to what might be going on and what I can look for? this sounds more like a problem than a failing auto tranny, right? i'd definitely appriciate it any help.

-Rob