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98 4l60e wide open not wanting to shift third

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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 08:08 AM
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Default 98 4l60e wide open not wanting to shift third

I was runnng my bone stock 98 Z28 the trans has nice firm shifts thru all gears but under wide open throttle it will not shift in to third it seems like it wants to but wont until you get out of it .....then driving home I noticed that it seems to almost like double shift ...like a small surge before it shifts in to third ..........anybody have any Ideas ...... I have had the car for two weeks and heres something that may or may not have anything to do with this the car was 2 quarts low on trans fluid and the trans is dry no leaks anywhere and the fluid is ok could used to be changed and I just wondering if I should get a solenoid for 2-3 shift ........I dont know much about these trans's
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 08:42 AM
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The 3-4 clutch is going out. Both shift solenoids are off in third so thats likely not the problem.

The last 4L60E I worked on pulled real good in first and second, third would slip bad, it eventually stopped shifting into third. When I got it apart the forward clutches were fried, the fwd apply piston seal was blown out also. The owner had me do all kinds of bs to it, he wasted a lot of money before I talked him into doing it right.

If you search enough you will find that this complaint comes up often. Some people say to disconnect the wire harness to the trans so it defults to max line pressure and stays in third, they say if it holds like this then it likely not the clutches but an electrical issue. Thats not true because it also defaults max line pressure to all the clutches and even bad ones will hold until they're completly gone.

If it was low on fluid my guess is that someone had the pan off and cleaned it, changed the filter and maybe other things only to find it didn't help. Usually you can break the filter open and find clutch chunks, but if it's been done recently maybe not.
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Jays_SSZ28
The 3-4 clutch is going out. Both shift solenoids are off in third so thats likely not the problem.

The last 4L60E I worked on pulled real good in first and second, third would slip bad, it eventually stopped shifting into third. When I got it apart the forward clutches were fried, the fwd apply piston seal was blown out also. The owner had me do all kinds of bs to it, he wasted a lot of money before I talked him into doing it right.

If you search enough you will find that this complaint comes up often. Some people say to disconnect the wire harness to the trans so it defults to max line pressure and stays in third, they say if it holds like this then it likely not the clutches but an electrical issue. Thats not true because it also defaults max line pressure to all the clutches and even bad ones will hold until they're completly gone.

If it was low on fluid my guess is that someone had the pan off and cleaned it, changed the filter and maybe other things only to find it didn't help. Usually you can break the filter open and find clutch chunks, but if it's been done recently maybe not.
I dont think its been done the fluid is ok but not real clean it's not beat but not bright red I had the car on a lift last night and rebuilt the front end didnt have the budget for the trans just yet...... and when it does shift in to 3rd and you lay in to it it feels good I dont feel it slipping .......fyi I have done a couple of trans rebuilds ect..... 28 years wrenching I just don't know anything about these trans and I do appreciate any info..... are you local to Pa. and is there anyway make sure this is what is going on...... I am planning on dropping the pan and taking a look .......
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 11:09 AM
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I'm not local to PA.
The last one I worked on was for a guys daily driver tahoe. I was doing odd jobs on his collection of cars, he drove me nuts with this one because his buddy at the trans shop said do this, do that, he spent a lot of money with sensors and bullshit. His rans guy friend never said to break the filter open, the pan was pretty clean. There was clutch chunks in the filter. It would catch third sometimes, especially if the tps was disconnected.
I was surprised to find 3-4 not really burned up, it was forward. Why it ran and shifted 1-2 great I don't know.

I guess it's just the way I do things. If you need it to be reliable just take it out and go through it, you had it two weeks. The cost of a gasket set just to tear it down and reassemble it is less than one towing bill.




Last edited by Jays_SSZ28; Jan 30, 2018 at 07:58 PM.
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 11:32 AM
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Yep your right I guess I'll make some plans on tearing it down and see whats going on my buddies got all the tranny tools so I'm guessing I'll give him a call and pick them up and get a line on a kit .....maybe a good time to do a rebuild and a converter and a shift kit the trans works real nice and I would rather do it now before it blows and causes more damage ...... Thanks for the info .....FYI I do plan on doing some work to this engine in the future
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