Auto gearbox

[will2942]

My daughter has recently bought a Clio RT 1.4 auto. 1995 'M' reg with 72000 miles on the clock.
She complained of a "revving" noise & lack of power.
I took the car up our road which has a slight incline & sure enough the engine was revving but not changing up through the gears & virtually stopped on the incline.
I got it home & the gearbox dipstick was dry. I recently had a similar experience on an old 320i BMW, so thought put some oil in & it should be ok.
Have now put about 2L of oil in & its no different. The Haynes manual says this is a job which should be done by a dealer,since specialist equipment is required.
Can anybody confirm this or is there something I can do myself.
The problem is that whilst the car starts & runs fine it will only do about 5 mph on the flat.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[tidyclio]

I'm no expert on auto boxes but having no fluid will have been a major cause of your problems. I'm not sure on the procedure for Clio's but i've known some cars to have involved and complex steps to re-fill the box try searching for clio auto box fluid renewal bound to be some info on the net.

 

[will2942]

Thanks for that,should have thought of it myself.

 

[sean]

depends what auto box you have as it could have 2 types. AD4 or MB . both boxes use dextron2 oil but only know the ad4 should have approx 3.5 litres in after oil change and checked at 60 degrees by draining out of level plug underneath.
you would probably be best of asking a local auto specialist or a dealer (expensive)to check it over. even get the to replace gearbox oil and strainer filter , but worse case is you may still require a new box. (very expensive).
stick your head under the car and look for signs of a leak and if there there is one i would chance topping up with 1/4 litre of oil at a time and try driving to see if any better , until you get to 3.5ish litres. and if no better then take to a specialist.
good luck.
was it brought from a trader?