Ive been having gearshift problems. The gears work fine for the most part. When I start from a stop and work to 40 mph I feel the gears go up to 2and then to 3, which is what is supposed to happen. However, on the freeway there are times when it only goes up to 2nd gear. I have no idea why. I stomp on the gas when im under 50 mph on the freeway from 3rd gear and it downshifts to 1st, I keep my foot on the gas and it shifts to 2nd and then back to 3rd when the speed has gone up enough, the only problem is that sometimes it stays on 2nd no matter how long I keep my foot on the gas. To get back to 3rd, I have to slow down to under 50 mph and stomp on the gas again to repeat the process and hope that it doesnt get stuck on 2. What could be wrong?

You may have a sticking or mis adjusted downshift cable or maybe the downshift valve is geting stuck.

As far as the cable goes, inspection is pretty easy but I cannot show you through here. A Hanes manual should show you all the inspection parts and anyone can do this.

If you want to give something a little try......the cable is attached to the throttle body along with the throttle cable. If this is confusing to you, have someone sit in the car while you look under the hood. Have them press the gas pedal and to will see a part moving. This is where your cables are connected. The cable I am referring to goes directly to the transmission. At the top of the cable there is a little rubber boot that you can slide off, pull this boot off and while that person has their foot on the gas, spray it with a generous amount of WD40 or similar, release the gas, press the gas, spray again and release. Put the boot back on. This may remedy any type of sticking of the cable for awhile.

When you pull the boot back to spray you should notice a small piece of metal crimped on to the iner cable part. This is how you make a correct adjustment of the cable.

I would try just the spraying part first and then road test to see if helped any. If it does, good for you. If not you may want to try adjusting the cable some. If anyone was tinkering with this cable before this may be your whole problem. If this cable is mis adjusted the wrong way, your downshift valve may be fully open at times causing the long delay of upshifting.

When the gas pedal is at rest, you will need to adust the cable by loosening the 2 nuts that hold the cable to the bracket. What you want to do is have that little crimped on piece make its way closer to the outer housing of the cable. In a better desription, make that crimped on piece move inside of the cable.So what you would actually do here is actually loosen the rear nut holding the cable, while using the front nut to take up the slack created by loosening the rear nut.

If neither of this helps, you will need to have the car looked at. You could have a few different problems that you yourself may not have the resources to complete.