as of the last two months, my 95 Tracer has an issue where I cannot seem to get it above 2nd gear, so if I attempt highway driving (which luckily I don't have to do for work or school very often) I cannot get above 55-60 mph, without my rmps skyrocketing. If I want to keep them under 3000, I cant drive above around 55. I assumed it was a transmission problem and would hate to have to replace the tranny but a friend of mine said it might be the o2 sensors, does anybody have any advice for troubleshooting?

 

it may be the throttle position sensor. but you should definitely get it fixed sooner rather than later. whatever that problem is, my 94 topaz had it and one day dropped from 3rd to 1st while I was doing 70 on the freeway. destroyed the trans and the engine all in one bang.

if you have a lot of miles on the car, do check the oxygen sensors too as they may need replacing, but that "should" not cause the issue. That would cause rough idle due to the car thinking the exhaust is lean and feeding excess gas into the engine.

The transmission may also have some hydraulic issues that need to be fixed.

you may also need to check your shifter linkage to make sure it's not in the wrong place. try putting the car into neutral and see if it wants to go forward. if that's the case, then your shifter linkage is just out of adjustment.