My car is a 2000 accent with 57,000 miles and an auto transmission - when I’m on the highway (between 60-70mph), sometimes the RPM go all the way up past 4000 and I feel a loss of power, as if I went from overdrive back to 3rd gear. If I ease off the gas a bit, eventually the car drops back down to ~2500 and gets power back.
Any ideas, anyone?
Well, there certainly is something odd about that. It is not odd that your car would downshift on the highway - depending on what you are doing. It is also not odd that you would end up at 4000 rpm when it downshifts.
What is odd is that you describe it as a loss of power that is restored when it upshifts again. This is backwards. The description is vague. E.g. you don’t say whether or not this is a new thing. You also don’t say anything about the conditions under which the shifting happens - either down or up. Actually your description doesn’t even assure me that it is shifting 4 to 3 to 4 as opposed to just slipping in 4th. With loss of power this is what makes the most sense.
Anyway…it is possible that you have a transmission issue (have you checked the fluid? Has it ever been serviced? You should be coming up on your second filter change now).
But it is also possible that you have some other kind of issue - such as a clogged up fuel filter.
I think that someone who is a mechanic needs to take this thing for a drive on the highway.