I saw the GM tech that does there transmission work at my dealership. He said I should get a code for a slipping transmisssion and nothing I expained was happening indicated a bad transmission. Basically he said maybe all the HP is more than the stock one can handle. I also believe he wanted to stay far away from it and said most of it to get rid of me. I figure lowering the shift points or raising the rev limiter is my cheapest option and may fix my issue with a band aid for now.

 

OK, that might be the most nonsensical response the GM tech could have made. If the transmission can't handle all the power why didn't it break trying? He was brushing you off.....in my opinion, of course.

Let's talk about your ideas for a fix. When you hit the throttle, the engine speed soars. It apparently hits the rev limiter. If you raise the rev limit, why wouldn't the engine rpm climb to that new level? All you'd be doing by raising the limit is risking your valve train. Changing the shift point will result in the same thing. Your engine revs right past the shift point now...why would lowering them change anything?

Try calling a performance transmission provider....they might have ideas. To me it sounds like a torque convertor problem but, like I said, I'm not an AT guy....

 

I went through the whole 4l60e transmission hassles for about 3 years.

First piece of advice - Go to a real transmission shop not GM. Just like the post above suggested.

I agree with above. If the engine revs and car doesn't move then how would changing the shift points help?

If you decide to keep the auto and have it repaired you might want to think about a shift kit and higher stall converter at the same time.

I experienced similar problems with my auto and finally got fed up once the 2-4 band started slipping. I got a complete t56 swap off of one of the boards and its the BEST MOD I've made in my car to date. Seat of the pants feels awesome (might be slower in reality but who cares). Its not too hard to do the swap and I can help you with the wiring if you need. Best thing is not more auto transmission issues.

 

How much did you pay and how long did it take to install? Did you do it yourself? Any good writeups?

 

http://www.afrashteh.com/tranny_pics/T56.htm

If you've ever dropped a tranny out of a car it isn't too much harder than that. Basically you drop the old auto out, remove the flex plate, and change the main seal while you're in there.

Reverse the process by installing the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate and tranny.

You'll need to open up the hole in the floor for shifter.

For wiring it isn't too bad. You need to get some connectors off ebay and splice them into the wires that were there for the auto plus run a wire from one of the pins off the pcm for the reverse lockout. You also need to wire in the neutral safety switch to the clutch pedals, I just used plain old blade connectors.

PITA I didn't like too much was removing the steering column and swapping out the pedals. You'll need to use a hole saw to cut a hole for the clutch master cylinder. On the other side you'll need to remove the brake booster and drop in the clutch master cylinder, top part goes through the fire wall into the car, the slave cylinder (bottom part) connects to the tranny. PITA snaking that through the headers.

Thats the jist of it. That website has all of the details. I got my swap for $1600 shipped from someone in California. They shipped it to Buffalo. Most t56 swaps should include everything including pedals, shifter and maybe even the shifter plate.

I did all of the stuff inside the car. Pedals, wires, Clutch cylinder install. Removing the steering column etc. The students at my school dropped the old tranny and put the new one in under the watchful eye of the auto teacher. (I'm a math teacher there)

It took about a week. I spent about 2 hours a day on it at lunch and after school and the kids did about 2 hours a day as well during class. The kids are slow but good. I'm slow too cause I'm very meticulous and I double check things a lot.

If you don't have a hoist I'd get some Rhino ramps and you should be able to do this in your driveway no problem.

I've done gears (4.10) full dual 3 inch exhaust and a few other things and this t56 personally brought me the most SMILES per gallon.

Some of the stuff in the article I didn't get right away but it all makes sense after doing it. I'm around to walk you through anything.

 

I know that I'm no mechanical engineer, but an auto trans only shifts so fast. I have a buddy that had the same problem after he did some work on his A4, and he did a shift kit to try and help. It didn't do a lot for him. I would advise talking to a speed shop you know works on automatics and see what they say. I'd almost bet it's not able to shift fast enough or the torque converter doesn't hold well enough.

 

My old 95Z was a Auto too, i had a very similar problem, it only happened when i jumped on it. It was run fine till higher RPM's and break up just like it would by hitting the rev limiter, and i freaked and thought it was the tranny too. believe it or not, it was the fuel pump. I'm not saying its the same problem as your car, but seriously have it checked out before you start playing with the tranny. It's a waste of time and $$$ to replace parts when your not really sure if there bad or not. TRUST ME on that!! Just my 2 cents. Good luck with the fix

 

Its real easy to get on a idea of whats wrong and miss the solution because of tunnel vision. I will try the fuel pressure gauge on the windshield and see how she does. My starter was going out years ago and had no idea what was wrong. The car would die after running for 2 minutes. Who would have thought that would fix the problem?!? Thanks for all the suggestions.