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No second or fourth gear(Automatic transmission)

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Old Jun 10, 2023 | 01:58 PM
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ZandersFbody's Avatar
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Default No second or fourth gear(Automatic transmission)

I just bought a 2000 Pontiac firebird formula. For the first 4 days the the gears were shifting perfectly, no slipping no delays no grinding. All of a sudden I think 2 days ago it started just not shifting into second gear no matter what and I just found out 4th won’t shift either. Even if I try to manually put the car into second on the shifter it will not go into second. This is really weird but I just checked the transmission fluid level and the transmission fluid is quite dirty so I just picked up some transmission fluid and a filter. Does anyone know what could be the cause of this? I’m thinking a dirty shift solonoid. Also the transmission displays 0 faults at all, no dash lights either. I thought that was very weird
-Could it be a broken band in the transmission? Also it has 183k miles on it and I believe it’s the OG transmission.

Last edited by ZandersFbody; Jun 10, 2023 at 02:05 PM.
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Old Jun 10, 2023 | 07:36 PM
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Both 2nd and 4th gear need the band for application, so yes, it could be a broken band.
But based on the description of the fluid, the band material is most likely burned up.

Time to pull the unit out and do a diagnostic disassembly.
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Old Jun 10, 2023 | 08:52 PM
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jetech's Avatar
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Dixiebandit69 is right. 183,000 miles it's time for a rebuild. Very dark trans fluid is probably worn band and clutch material.
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Old Jun 10, 2023 | 09:00 PM
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Thank you guys, I figured I would have to pull the tranny out anyways after I found out that started happening but it sucks because I’m a broke 16 year old lol. Hopefully I’m able to rebuild it myself and it’s something somewhat simple
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Old Jun 11, 2023 | 03:39 AM
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You can try installing a Sonnax extra-long servo pin or welding a glob on to the existing pin and griding it to the correct length. As dixiebandit69 said the band is most likely worn. Some people have gotten a little extra life out of their trans by making the servo pin longer.
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Extra Long Servo Pin.pdf (274.3 KB, 62 views)
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