3sfe Ipsum 1998 problem

[fundanglr]

hi guys,

i recently had my engine replace (3sfe) in my 98 ipsum , drove it for the second time today as its only a spare car - but it did something really strange.

the automatic decided to not want to change past 2nd gear, and i had to nurse it home .

when i got it home and it had cooled down i removed the Battery ,air box and removed the gearbox electrical connections , they seemed full of thermal grease , so i cleaned it all out and put her all back together. it seems to be running ok now, so my question is, if this occurs again , what else could it be, the trans has no whines or strange noises and is clean as , so its not mechanical , the computer was replaced around 2 years ago , it just seems very very strange. after it was running again i took it for a thrash and gave it a lot of stick and it didnt give any issues at all