Hell all,
I am brand new to this site, just got registered, and am really needing your guys help here.
Back last feb. I had the transmission done at valvoline all new fluid...however pan was never dropped...that is the only service done to it since ownership which was the july before that. Currently I am sitting at nearly 86K miles on the tranny, and last on 2/21/13 i noticed while crusing my RPM's would randomly and sporatically shift up and down, as if the tranny was trying to shift for some reason...Well, I know I had a bad alternator so figured it was due to that...about a day or two after that i started hearing a continual loud kinda whining noise which i then traced to the transmission itself..thats when I really started to get nervous, so I checkd the level but couldnt really see the color of the fluid as it was dark out and so I did the next day...fluid color was a light brown..so now I am thinking how on earth is this possible when I just had it serviced?? well then today comes...and I head to a shop and not even a mile from my home my car seemed to never make it outta first gear(rather it was first gear or not idk) so I then pulled over and put it into park..never did go into park tho but what seemed as neutral..then I couldnt get the car to engage in any other type of gear...after it sitting on the side of the road the car shifted into gear and acted normal all of maybe 300 yards and then repeated itself all over again..lukily i was able to get it home by continually stopping, shutting the car off while in park, restarting the car and going 300 yards some more...all in all my car is having some serious issues, and im hoping and praying this isnt the end of my monte as I cannot afford a new transmission especailly when I still owe 11K on the loan!! I have no clue what to do, or even if this fix is now to a point where it is too costly for me to fix...direction and help is needed muchly right now!! Please let me know what to do, or even if it is something I should bother with..It also in the past has been known to delay in shifting from a stop position in accelerating...but I thought absolutly nothign of it..until now where I am afraid it is just too late..yet hoping it isnt..

 

Sounds like the filter is plugged up. Did you have any problems before the service? I'm guessing they used a machine to flush your trans which IMO is the wrong way to service trans. Those machines cause more problems then good. I have seen where the pressure is to high and it rips the filter to shreds and its down hill from there. Unfortunately you probably need a rebuild at this point.

 

I would recommend finding a local non-chain trans shop and having them check it out. The brown fluid certainly indicates a problem with the recent fluid change. 72blownvert is probably right that the filter got shredded.
Ask the shop to take pictures and/or let you take pictures; you might need to engage a lawyer to sue the Valvoline shop based on what the trans shop finds.
The trans shop might suggest just changing the fluid and filter now and testing if the trans works better. They might then do another fluid/filter change if they think it is improving and have you bring it back in a week for another change. That might run $300 and with pictures the Valvoline shop might pay it without a lawyer. If the trans needs a rebuild, then I highly suggest getting a lawyer.