BILL BERESFORD

Recently my SS Impala has been not shifting into 1st gear when stopped.
At take off it will start out in 2nd then a abruptly shift down to 1st resulting in a harsh "thump" I recently had a BG flush done on the tranny and the fluid is new and full. When shifting manually it works fine. I have been told it is a sticky shift valve and to just drive through it for a while and it will work it self out. I don't buy that. Have any of you had this issue? What else should I look for? How about an additional additive? Prior to the flush it was starting to do this and why I decided to do the flush.

Also it dosent do this all the time. I would say about 6 out of 10 starts it will happen. when going down the road all is well. shifts smooth, down shifts smooth when passing.

Thanks for your time.
Bill

rottonj

iTrader: (4)

There are many posts about transmission problems with these cars. I would suggest you search and read thru them, you probably wont be liking what you read. It happens to most at some time or another. What is your mileage and mods done to the car? There are things that can be done to help but an overhaul could be in your future.

BILL BERESFORD

no mods....bone stock......97000 miles..

rottonj

iTrader: (4)

Mine started at 77k, I guess you are ahead . These transmissions are the weak link. Some on here have done great maintenance from day one don't seem to have the issues most here do. You said you did a flush which most say isn't recommended with these transmissions. Did you do a filter change? Has that been done before? Search magnet,shift kit,filter,transmission cooler.

spawne32

iTrader: (2)

these cars have by far the shittiest transmission in any car ive ever had the pleasure of working on. They have a 100% failure rate under 100k. You would think that with it being the 4t65e heavy duty version that it would be able to put up with the v8 power, but its just so under built from the factory its not even funny.

ramairetransam

iTrader: (18)

did you have the filter changed , doing a flush is a bad idea if you dont do the filter. Your best bet now it to do a pan drop and filter change . Thats all i ever did on my 04 monte ss and wifes 05 iimpala ss .

91parkave

iTrader: (4)

I'm at 105k on the stock Trans no issues , but the. Again being a previous 3800 owner I knew the first thing gs needed to be done were overkilling the maintenance

superglide9375

yea i had new trans from dealer put in and promptly put transgo shift kit in,not even waiting on this one my third trans by the way,paid for one and got the other one under warr.my first lasted 132,not bad

spawne32

iTrader: (2)

the amount of aftermarket parts available to "fix" this transmission is pathetic. Shift kits are pretty common but if you look at the sonnax sure cure kits, and the clutch upgrades, etc, you can see just how under designed this trans was. Doesn't deserve the heavy duty title at all. Fortunately the TEP has put together almost every upgrade you could possibly think of for this car. Once you do that to the trans, its virtually bulletproof.