Limp Mode After Tranny Gets Hot. Help

[Trainyardie]

Hey everyone, complete newbie w/ problems but still in love with my ride. First off, thanks to everyone who runs this site, I've been on for two weeks now and am extremely grateful for what you do.

I bought a '97 328i (sadly automatic) a little while ago with 67k mi., it now has 90k. I'm thinking a city driven car previously. I can now drive it for 15-20 mins before it starts "limping" and I gotta go straight home. After the light comes on it shifts real hard in and out of third. When it IS working properly I can only wind it to 5,500 because it feels like it hits a limiter. Though if I put it in manual mode, I can wind it all the way up. I've recently pulled out about 3 quarts of mildly discolored fluid and put in full synthetic (that is compatible with conventional) with no change except a brilliantly smooth shift. The tranny has always felt good and never had a problem except that the fluid drains out of the torque converter overnight and it's slow to reverse in the morning the first time.

Okay, the point - Should I get a tranny filter kit?
-Do I even have a transmission filter or is there just that magnet?
-Why only 3.1 Quarts of ATF?
-Lastly, I know I probably shouldn't have, but I used Mobil One Full Syn ATF Dexron/MerconIII Compatible- Do I need to go Lubra Molly(sp)?
I can't figure it out.
This is such a young and beautiful machine. It's breakin my heart and my balls.
Thanks for reading.

[bitcore]

Put OEM tranny fluid in it, they were designed for the OEM fluid and should work best with that fluid.

Seems like your transmission is just simply torn up. Mine acts weird sometimes and can make a couple thud thud thud noises on the highway like it was slipping a gear (under only a moderate load). Only once or twice a week will this happen and I can't reproduce it on demand....
I also have a loud-ass rattle from under my car but I can't tell if it's from in the transmission or not.


Hey, Do a 6 speed manual swap

[Trainyardie]

Thanks bitcore, my gut tells me to swap. I guess I should listen to my intestines.

[bitcore]

yah, it can drop you a nice cool $3,000 to do this but hey. (probably more like 2,000)

6 speeds are expensive, only this one place sells them. 5 speeds can be picked up used all over the place for a few hundred bucks.