Okay, my 1997 Camaro RS has been having a tranny slippage for awhile. I finally got an SES light and the 1st - 2nd harsh shift and a tremendous loss of power yesterday. It's been running like crap from cold to hot, only crappier when the tranny fluid finally warms up. I nearly have to gun it to get on the freeway. I've finally decided to garage her untill I can have work done to it...

The transmission fluid and filter is undoubtfully old in the car, It's brownish red and it ain't clean. I was wondering if bad and thinned tranny fluid and a bad filter can cause P1870, which causes your car to slip telling the computer to apply max line preasure.

HERE'S my issue...
I only have enough money to have ONE opperation done and I'm clueless as to what needs to be done.

I can..
A) Have tranny fluid and filter changed.. or
B) Have tranny shop do the $300 Sonnax fix kit...

Which one should I do and pray works?
I can't drive my car until one of these WORKS, it's plain horrible.

 

I'd say your trans is pretty much toast if its slipping bad with an 1870. You'd be better off putting the money towards a new or junkyard trans. Sorry about your luck!!!

 

How would I know for sure? and how much is a new A4? If I get a junkyard one I'm looking at the same thing happening again, unless I get an M5... How much would it cost to thrown an M5 in vs an A4?...

 

is it a V6 or V8? There are a couple of T56 conversion kits on the board right now from 1400-1600. I personay did the swap and I DONT regret it al all. My tranny was doing the same thing...The swap was about 200 more than a new tranny but I dont care at all. If you decide swap I can help you can tow it to my house near Peachtree city. ( almost done with a 2 car 24*30 Garage with a lift )

Matt

 

It's a V6... would the swap still be the same? They're telling me I'm looking at $1,800 for a rebiuld and twice that for a new A4... I'm calling on them but Aamco told me roughly the same so now I dunno... I'd DEFINATELY LOVE a M5 rather than a A4... ESPECIALLY if it's going to be cheaper...

 

I took it to the transmission shop and they looked it over for free . Well I got it back and they told me what the deal was... The crappy GM Valve Body got stuck closed and didn't allow tranny fluid to the transmission so my tranny started slipping and caused excessive heat and fried my shift solenoids, hence the delayed shift time. Basicly... I'm going to need a rebiuld... I'm so screwed...

It's going to total $1,800... I'm looking for cheaper places in prayer... but its not looking good for me at all right now...

 

Okay this isn't looking good... They wanna charge me $1,800 to rebiuld the tranny. Where can I look to find a cheaper rebiuld and about how long will my car last me? I wanna get it down to $1,200... is that possible? What if I just got a new A4 without the crappy sticking valve in GM's tranny's? (2000+) How much would I expect to buy and have the tranny installed? How about an A4 to M5 swap? Those tranny's don't get the sticking valve, so I've heard. What if I swapped it out so I could leave with a 5 Speed . How much would I be expecting to pay doing that?

I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck out of this situation instead of an overpriced $1,800 rebiuld with carnote for a car I can't even currently drive...

 

Crappy valvebody? Perhaps, but the main factor was the first line in your first post: "Okay, my 1997 Camaro RS has been having a tranny slippage for awhile. "

Had you of rectified it when you first noticed it, you could have gotten away with just fixing the valvebody, if that was the problem.

I don't know where in Georgia you are, but there is a place near Savannah thats pretty cheap and HUGE on the Impala forums.
www.TeamTripp.com

 

Thanks for the referal, I'll check them out. But yeah, the first few times I didn't exactly know what to Diagnose for until I finally got an SES light. Thats when I found out that my tranny was slipping and how I learned it was doing it all along. I just didn't know right off the bat until the "Dumb@$$" light told me and I just added two and two. Unfortunately it was tolate...ooops.

Edit: Thanks a BUNCH man, I'm going to give them a call tomorrow if they're open. If I can strike a deal then I get a trip to Savahnna w/T-Tops AND I get a new tranny. I live in Conyers GA btw... 30 Miles East of Atlanta...Thats roughly 200 miles away from me, think the car will make it?...