95 trans am issues
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95 trans am issues Bought a 95 trans am, transmission entirely rebuilt, clutches, steels, bands and a shift kit. Im having an issue with car however, the gear selector scrolls through all gears just fine, the problem is if say Im going down a steep hill and want to put the car in 1st, the idle drops down as if in neutral. if Im going 10 mph the car seems to be in neutral until I give it gas to bring rpms up until the gear grabs and then the car will take off just as it should...It does this in ALL gears, its almost as if engine braking is not allowed. This just happened today so the rebuild I don't think is associated with my problems. My trans fluid was a little low, I put some more in it and have not taken it back out since.
Also, how hot do these cars run? it seems the fans up front NEVER come on and the car has gotten above 210 before? I have had a low coolant light come on intermittently but nothing is low, I figure that is just a bad sensor. If I turn the heater core on the temps drop down to below 185. I just notice in town driving the car gets hot. But I've read these cars run at 230 to pass emissions. Should I be concerned about the engine temperature or is that normal?
Also with the transmission, would disconnecting the battery and letting the brain reset help at all? I don't know if that is just an OBD2 thing or not.
Also, with AC on the compressor turns on but fans do not, atleast the one on the driver's side doesn't, I cant see the passenger side one.
Also, how hot do these cars run? it seems the fans up front NEVER come on and the car has gotten above 210 before? I have had a low coolant light come on intermittently but nothing is low, I figure that is just a bad sensor. If I turn the heater core on the temps drop down to below 185. I just notice in town driving the car gets hot. But I've read these cars run at 230 to pass emissions. Should I be concerned about the engine temperature or is that normal?
Also with the transmission, would disconnecting the battery and letting the brain reset help at all? I don't know if that is just an OBD2 thing or not.
Also, with AC on the compressor turns on but fans do not, atleast the one on the driver's side doesn't, I cant see the passenger side one.
Last edited by fourthgenlove; Sep 7, 2013 at 01:39 AM.
Fans should come on TOGETHER.....if they aren't, you have a problem. Check the fan relays first, then see if you have a burned out fan motor. That's the cooling issue during city driving most likely. You MUST have both fans working if you want to run cooler during city driving or in traffic.
230*F is way high in my opinion. My LS1 in 15 years, when bone stock and with my 427ci and now with my 3 month old iron 390ci........temps never go near 215*F. Usually while driving they are around 190*F. If I'm sitting in traffic they will go up to 215*F or so. That's all though.
I have had your exact transmission issue before, no tranny breaking when downshifting. But if you add a little throttle it comes right back. I can't remember exactly what the problem was, but the tranny had to be rebuilt. If I remember right, I needed a new pump or they had to machine mine so it would build proper pressure all the time. But maybe yours has a different issue that's easy to fix. Resetting the PCM won't do anything.
Ad yes....the low coolant sensors go bad all the time in these cars. You need to replace it, live with the light, or you can simply unplug it to get the light to stay off. The sensor is located on the back of the radiator, right under the radiator cap. Easy to get to.
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230*F is way high in my opinion. My LS1 in 15 years, when bone stock and with my 427ci and now with my 3 month old iron 390ci........temps never go near 215*F. Usually while driving they are around 190*F. If I'm sitting in traffic they will go up to 215*F or so. That's all though.
I have had your exact transmission issue before, no tranny breaking when downshifting. But if you add a little throttle it comes right back. I can't remember exactly what the problem was, but the tranny had to be rebuilt. If I remember right, I needed a new pump or they had to machine mine so it would build proper pressure all the time. But maybe yours has a different issue that's easy to fix. Resetting the PCM won't do anything.
Ad yes....the low coolant sensors go bad all the time in these cars. You need to replace it, live with the light, or you can simply unplug it to get the light to stay off. The sensor is located on the back of the radiator, right under the radiator cap. Easy to get to.
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The transmission was rebuilt 3k ago and it was just working, how serious is this issue? I can just leave it in Drive or is it something that needs fixed ASAP? Also, I unplugged the sensor from thermostat and jumped it with a paper clip, with key on the fans did not come on.
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Okay update, put a volt meter on a few connections, and while going home today check engine light came on and when I parked I noticed both fans were on! WTF? Is this the pcm faulting out something and going into a sort of safe mode? I have a feeling the check engine light and the fans running have something to do with eachother, I did try crawling under the car and unplugging the two fans and checking for voltage, but I couldn't get the plugs out so I pushed them in a bit better. Any thoughts?
Okay update, put a volt meter on a few connections, and while going home today check engine light came on and when I parked I noticed both fans were on! WTF? Is this the pcm faulting out something and going into a sort of safe mode? I have a feeling the check engine light and the fans running have something to do with eachother, I did try crawling under the car and unplugging the two fans and checking for voltage, but I couldn't get the plugs out so I pushed them in a bit better. Any thoughts?
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How do I check for codes? as the 95's were the Frankenstein cars. 
OBD2 plugs with OBD1 computer.
Is this what I need?
http://www.moates.net/aldu1-and-cabl....html?cPath=64
OBD2 plugs with OBD1 computer.Is this what I need?
http://www.moates.net/aldu1-and-cabl....html?cPath=64
Last edited by fourthgenlove; Sep 7, 2013 at 09:48 PM.
