missing gear

Took a 3 speed auto tranny out of a diplomat. drained it, replaced the filter and gasget and then it sat for a year or more. Put it in a different car filled it with fluid and now 2nd gear is missing. I am fairly certain it had 2nd when I took it out! Could something be stuck. Any one know if there is something I can do, or is it garbage?

check your intermediate band adjustment screw and locknut. It's mounted on the driver's side next to the shift linkage. Make sure it's properly snug down. If that doesn't help, you could have a broken band, that's worse case scenario. Next scenario you can try is this, get it up to around 25 MPH put it in neutral and then slam it back into drive, what that'll do is unstick the governor if it's binding. Since the transmission sat up for a while not being used, check your fluid as well to make sure it's not a gel that'll clog up your oil passages.

Thanks for the info. I will look at that when I get home. Does that pour in "cleaner / sealer" stuff do any good?

not really, that stuff won't work. Best bet is to just check out the possible trouble areas and see what goes.