transmission acting up?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
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From: Joplin, MO
transmission acting up? ok, i have a supposed (bought the car in jan, no paper work) stage 3 transmission with a 2800 vigalante stall. I know it has the stall, but built, i don't know. Anyway, sometimes when shifting from 3 to 4, it just revs up to 4000 or more and with hardly any throttle response, then shifts. Its done that for a while, no big problem, but usually works itself out of the funk. Today, i was just cruising at 60 and decided to get on it. It didnt downshift to 3rd and acted like a dog when it accelerated. I tried it again and it made a half assed attempt at acceleration and just bounced the rev limiter. It was almost like I was in neutral. I was freaked out because my car wouldnt accelerate past 65. At 65 if i gave it gas, the rpms rose, but the mph didnt, maybe like 1 mph for each 1000 rpm, definately not even close to normal. I could literally just watch the rpms float from 2000 to 6000 and the mph didnt rise but maybe 1 or 2 while i was in drive. I turned around at some guys driveway and headed home and i got on it again, thinking maybe putting it in park, reverse, and back in drive fixed it. Well, it downshifted hard and shifted perfect, didnt bounce the limiter, and had the normal expected ls1 break neck acceleration. i didnt do anything after that, and it drove home ok. should i be worried, or what could that have been?
If its intermittent its likely a tuning or sensor issue
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
From: Joplin, MO
well, its doing it all the time now. in traffic it is hard for me to go from 30 -40. it shifts ok and has normal power under first gear. but when it shifts to 2, it acts like it is 90% in neutral, 10% in gear. rpms rise, but mph barely creeps up. there are no weird noises or grinds. engine and exhaust note sound normal. it's been on this same tune forever, so i dont see why it would just now start to really screw up. is there a particular sensor that i can take a look at somewhere, or should i just take it to a shop and hope they dont screw me?
I would drop the pan and inspect whats in there and get it scanned for codes, Then make a determination of where to go from there. whats the fluid smell and look like ?
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Sounds reasonable . And question can you find out what the numbers for those codes are and has the car ever been tuned for that stall ?
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
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From: Joplin, MO
I will ask them what the numbers for the codes were. I bought the car with a ls1edit tune. It was not a dyno tune. It seems to drive ok, but I know I need to get a true dyno tune for optimal everything, but I still have plans, so I'll just drive it as is for now. plus, I want to go bigger with the stall. it is not a daily driver.
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
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From: Joplin, MO
well, pretty ***** news. shift selonoids didn't help anything. they told me i had no 3rd and 4th gear. i said i knew that. but they said they had to replace the codes to eliminate the smaller issues. I guess so, but they didnt even know the codes or print them out or anything. i paid the $180 and left with my car in the exact same state as before. They did say that they would credit it all back towards a rebuild. Possibly upwards of $1700 or so, but they said it would be bulletproof in the end. I don't know what to do. should i get a second opinion or is it basically the 3-4 clutch issue that requires a rebuild. are there sponsors here with race transmissions that would be a better option than a nice rebuild? plz, any opinions would be helpful. im freakin out
Any of the sponsors here would be able to build you a unit to do what you need, However the shop you took it to should have driven the car and if competent would have known that just solenoids would not fix it.An experienced trans guy taking a car for a drive should have been easily able to tell the difference between a solenoid malfunction and a 3-4 clutch failure. Sorry it didn't work out
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
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From: Joplin, MO
it's weird, when i picked the car up and drove it home about 4 miles, it shifted fine, going into all 4 gears, no problem. then, one block away from my house, it has the symptoms i already talked about. i dont understand how it can be so intermittent. i do not want to get a rebuild if it is something easier or cheaper than that. they seemed like honest people, but you never can tell sometimes. they are not a big chain and have been in business for a while, so i guess that says something about them. if i have them break into the transmission and it is something easy to fix, they could easily fix it and charge me for a full rebuild. i do not want that scenerio. it's frustrating being too poor to get a professional job and not smart enough to do it yourself. Thanks, and any more suggestions?
yeah man im pretty sure it is the clutches cuz mine did the samething and honestly i dont know if i would take it back to them..they should have known that was the problem when you first brought it to them i would really try getting your money back and taking it to another shop... i got lucky and found a really good shop to do my tranny $800 cheaper then any other place i looked at and i looked at a lot of places, he did a great job on it and gave me a warranty so just search around
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
From: Joplin, MO
yeah man im pretty sure it is the clutches cuz mine did the samething and honestly i dont know if i would take it back to them..they should have known that was the problem when you first brought it to them i would really try getting your money back and taking it to another shop... i got lucky and found a really good shop to do my tranny $800 cheaper then any other place i looked at and i looked at a lot of places, he did a great job on it and gave me a warranty so just search around
hey, no problem im not good with them either thats why i didnt rebuild my tranny but neways, mine all the sudden happen though, i was being stupid and cutting a few doughnuts and then before you know it my car did what yours is doing all the time. I talked to a bunch of transmission shops about this, and they say that sometimes they will just both go out at once, and sometimes it will just have part of the time. as for anything getting stuck or anything like that i dont think thats the problem but im not for sure.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
From: Joplin, MO
thanks for your input. this is just going to suck paying for a rebuild. i was wanting to swap the intake and cam this summer, but that may take a backseat to this now. oh yea, and this happens on the last day of my second job. i quit it cuz i finally didn't need the extra cash flow and didn't want to work 50+ hours a week (i'm 22, i am lazy). Now, i wish i had the other job again... or at least a better current job.
Dude, it happened to me. Same as described above pretty much. At first I hoped it was the tune, but it was really the clutch pack going. Best of luck with your transmission.
DO NOT TAKE IT BACK TO THE TRANS COMPANY YOU JUST WENT TO!
That is my pet peeve, people who receive shitty service but continue to use the same place because its convenient.
Just my words of advice.
DO NOT TAKE IT BACK TO THE TRANS COMPANY YOU JUST WENT TO!
That is my pet peeve, people who receive shitty service but continue to use the same place because its convenient.
Just my words of advice. thanks for your input. this is just going to suck paying for a rebuild. i was wanting to swap the intake and cam this summer, but that may take a backseat to this now. oh yea, and this happens on the last day of my second job. i quit it cuz i finally didn't need the extra cash flow and didn't want to work 50+ hours a week (i'm 22, i am lazy). Now, i wish i had the other job again... or at least a better current job.
Don't waste the money on a rebuild and I agree with the previous post about not going back to that same shop. They obviously have no idea what they are doing or they would not have replaced shift solenoids in a tranny that had no 3rd of 4th gear. Get yourself a nice built tranny from either performabuilt or FLT who are both sponsors on this site and have a very good reputation in the Fbody world and never worry about your transmission again.