first off:

94, 4l60e, 170,000 miles, however I bought the car with 120k on it and was told that it had a rebuilt unit put in around 100k. A GM dealer confirmed the tranny in there now is not original. The guy I bought it from said it had a shift kit installed. I have also flashed the ECM with a the "shift kit" feel from a HPP

(I realize that was stupid, but the tranny has been having problems for a long time, so I gave that a shot...)

Anyway, I have a couple of symptoms:

1. When you take off, it feels like it is dragging in first gear (Almost like the e-brake is on) and then when it shifts into second, you don't feel the drag as much. The shift is pretty hard.

2. Sometimes, regardless of throttle, when it shifts from 2-3, it will hang up halfway into the shift into some kind of Neutral purgatory. If you were getting on it hard, the engine will free rev to redline, if you were just driving like normal, it will free rev as well. Anyway, if you hold the gas with it free-revving, it will shift eventually and jerk the hell out of the car. Honestly feels like the rear axle is going to fall off it bangs so hard. However, normally when it does it, I let off the gas completely, and the tranny will finish shifting into 3rd, but it still shifts very violently. For some reason, this happens less if in Drive instead of Overdrive.

3. I don't know if this is normal, but if you are cruising in OD (say 65mph), and you hit the gas pretty hard, say 80% TPS, the tranny will go into neutral and feel like it's going to engage in 2nd, putting the car right near redline. Usually I back off, because I don't really want to rev this tired old engine that much.

4. Lately now, while driving, you can hear a hissing noise coming from the front. First time I checked the trans dipstick was blown out a little, so I put it back. The hissing gets more pronounced right around the shift point, and sometimes goes away after the shift, but as the car gets warmer, the hissing sound is pretty much there all the time.

5. When you lift the throttle in 4th gear, say 3500 rpm (As if you were going 80 or 85mph) the rpm's don;t decline almost instantly like other trannies I have seen. This car holds the rpms right there, just like compression braking in my M6. I don;t know if this is normal for this tranny, but thought I would point it out.

I realize I may have not given enough info, I do 95% of the work on the car, but I'm no tranny guy. What does it sound like is wrong? I should state that I don;t want the car to shift hard, I want it to shift normally, because this car is my fiancee's. I thought about getting the tranny rebuilt, but because it shifts so weird, I thought that I should start with a different tranny just in case the "guy" who rebuilt it drilled all kinds of holes in the valvebody, thus making it permantly screwed up. Because of the miles on the car and because I am saving up to get married later this year, I am trying to save cash, so I thought about putting in a junkyard tranny. I found one for $600 near me (Riverside California)

Anybody have any opinions or know of anybody that does good work for a decent price? I am more than willing to yank the old and install the new tranny, but I do not feel that I am competant enough to try and rebuild the tranny myself. Again, this is not a track car, it's just a daily driver and I'm not looking for a 500+ HP tranny or tranny rebuild. All I want is something that will last a few more years under normal (not hard) driving & something that doesn't cause teeth to fall out everytime it shifts.

Thanks in advance and sorry this is so long...

 

What condition is the fluid in? Does it look discolored or smell burnt? What your probably feeling in first gear is what's called a "tie-up'his means that a clutch pack or band is engaged when it's not supposed to be. In many instances, when a clutch pack completely fails, the friction plates (inside splines) will "weld" themselves to the steel plates (outside splines) and lock the clutch pack on.

Frank
CPT

 

I use Mobil-1 fluid and I do change the fluid and filter regularly. Having said that, the fluid is not the nice pinkish red color, it is more of a dark orange. Not really a brown per se, because you can still see some orange and red in it. I know not a lot of help, but it's more orangish brown then it is red.

 

Hey Frank -- I checked out your site. Just a question, do you know what shipping would be from California (92553)? Your base rebuild is probably what I am looking for. I would have to ship from resifential because I don;t have access to a dock, unfortunately.

Thanks Frank

 

We just shipped one to central Cal. The customer had a UPS account, so it only cost him $70 each way. A 4L60E weighs 137# (In a plastic shipping tub). I'll check on shipping later, or you can check pricing to zip 21921.

Frank
CPT