Transmission slipping. Happened once. Ideas?

[Zorrota]

My daughter's car.
2002 3.4/2WD auto with 280K. Trans fluid changed about a year ago and never had any issues before.
She was accelerating from ~40 to 55 and the rpm increased while the vehicle speed did not. She pulled over, shut it down, restarted and there have been no problems since (a couple hundred miles).
I searched the forum and found a lot of shuddering and slipping from a start stories but couldn't find this presentation.
From her report it was a smooth slip, not a shudder or jerking. Fluid level checked and it's fine.
Thoughts?

 

[clearock]

i'd read up on sonnax A340-LATE-ZIP and transgo 340-HD2 mite give u somewhere to start...

 

[LittleCaesar]

I would recheck the fluid sooner than later.

 

[Zorrota]

I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond.
That being said, as stated in my original post the fluid level was checked and found normal.
Also, the shift kits mentioned would be of note if I was considering a rebuild or build-up of the transmission. I'm not going to go that direction as a diagnostic step.
All I want to know is if I have a problem or do these things occasionally slip when they get high mileage? Is this a known failure mode? Can it be trusted or do we need to take immediate action? Things like that.
Thanks again.:cheers:

 

[drei4runner29]

Just be careful and keep an eye on it. This happened to me also several years ago and it just progressively got worse up to the point where my transmission just gave out on me while I was driving on the freeway. Luckily I still had enough momentum to pull off to the side. After taking it to the stealership at the time, when they drained the fluids, it had a lot of metal shavings. I ended up having to replace the transmission.

 

[spartacus]

If thé torque converter is on the way out then this will happen again and slowly get worse. In the meantime you can drop the transmission pan and replace the atf filter, with 240k miles it will be worth it. Also when you replaced the fluid what fluid did you use. Some of these transmissions are a little finicky about the fluid. Also might be a good idea to get a obd scan tool and the torque app and check the atf fluid temp to see if the Temps are in line.

 

[clearock]

Also, the shift kits mentioned would be of note if I was considering a rebuild or build-up of the transmission. I'm not going to go that direction as a diagnostic step.
All I want to know is if I have a problem or do these things occasionally slip when they get high mileage? Is this a known failure mode? Can it be trusted or do we need to take immediate action? Things like that.
Thanks again.:cheers:

I mentioned both of the kits as there is a lot of info in multi thread about them with peeps talking about trans issues not just kit reviews. As the trans get high miles some of the valve body parts wear and the kits help with said and can bring ur aging trans back to life. The zip get addresses trans fuild/line pressure leaking by the end plugs which "could" cause slipping. But I think what spartacus is leaning towards about the TC, my guess is ur TC is probably on its way out...