Freakin' WHAAAAAA!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 48
From: Houston
Freakin' WHAAAAAA!
Crap... think my trans just crapped 
I did some quick searching and it appears the consensus is the sprag failed. Sweet, just what I need... laid-off for almost three months now, tapped financially and....
Anyway, from a stop, it just freewheels in OD. If I pull it into LOW, it drives and I can manually shift up thru 4th and it seems to drive fine.
It happened when I was making a WOT pass for my G-Tech; it spun thru 1st, shifted into 2nd and pulled for a second then THUNK and it freewheels
I lift, I felt it re-engage, I got on the gas a little and it's pulling. I thought, hmm.... weird. On the way home, it let go under load a few more times, and like I mentioned, won't start off in OD, gotta pull it down to low 
Seems like a silly question but, if I *****-foot it, shift manually, how detrimental is it to keep driving it? Am I just steadily grinding away metal, adding shavings to the fluid, etc? My only ride right now
Is this something a decent mechanic might tackle himself or would I be wasting my time and just need to bite the bullet and rebuild/replace? Any suggestions on shops around Houston? Century isn't too far, they pretty decent?
Welp... thanks for any help/advice.
Anyone got a decent trans for sale?!
Dang... and just got done doing a bit of work to it, too
Went out yesterday and got some baselines, ran a 13.6 @ 107.1, 231rwhp, according to the G-Tech. Hoped for more HP but was happy with the 13.6, spun all thru 1st and a good bit of 2nd...
Anyway......
I did some quick searching and it appears the consensus is the sprag failed. Sweet, just what I need... laid-off for almost three months now, tapped financially and....Anyway, from a stop, it just freewheels in OD. If I pull it into LOW, it drives and I can manually shift up thru 4th and it seems to drive fine.
It happened when I was making a WOT pass for my G-Tech; it spun thru 1st, shifted into 2nd and pulled for a second then THUNK and it freewheels
I lift, I felt it re-engage, I got on the gas a little and it's pulling. I thought, hmm.... weird. On the way home, it let go under load a few more times, and like I mentioned, won't start off in OD, gotta pull it down to low Seems like a silly question but, if I *****-foot it, shift manually, how detrimental is it to keep driving it? Am I just steadily grinding away metal, adding shavings to the fluid, etc? My only ride right now
Is this something a decent mechanic might tackle himself or would I be wasting my time and just need to bite the bullet and rebuild/replace? Any suggestions on shops around Houston? Century isn't too far, they pretty decent?
Welp... thanks for any help/advice.
Anyone got a decent trans for sale?!
Dang... and just got done doing a bit of work to it, too
Went out yesterday and got some baselines, ran a 13.6 @ 107.1, 231rwhp, according to the G-Tech. Hoped for more HP but was happy with the 13.6, spun all thru 1st and a good bit of 2nd...Anyway......
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 48
From: Houston
Dude, I do nothing but baby it to get the best mileage I can right now. It's been KILLING me!! I go out to have fun one freakin' time (okay, two- a baseline and a back-up) and chit happens...
But, hey... thanks for the kick
But, hey... thanks for the kick
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,456
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 32
From: Wood Dale Ill.
Just got a call on this and it is not true. Sorry that is for the core charge if you do not have a core to return. All normal prices are posted per the unit that you would purchase on our site. Vince Bielanski
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 91
From: spring lake MI
Wow my mistake. I really misunderstood that one. I was looking at the ls1speed web sight and thought that that was a REALLY good deal. I went ahead and removed that so you don't get any more calls >feeling really stupid<
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 12
That same thing happened to my car I was able to drive it using that same method for a while. Although I ended just grinding down all the clutches. Just nothing but metal shavings. I only drove it because it was my only car to get to work. I would recommend not driving it at all if possible. Good luck with fixing it though.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 48
From: Houston
That same thing happened to my car I was able to drive it using that same method for a while. Although I ended just grinding down all the clutches. Just nothing but metal shavings. I only drove it because it was my only car to get to work. I would recommend not driving it at all if possible. Good luck with fixing it though.
Anyone know about that?!
And good luck to you, lopez
Registered User
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 19
From: Spokane, WA
I had no money due to being laid off when my 95 Formula lost first & reverse so my only choice that didn't involve not driving the car any more was to put in a used transmission.
Found that 2-wheel drive 93 to 96 Astro vans & S-10 Blazers use a 4L60E that will bolt right into the early LT1 fourth gens and work perfectly with nothing but a tail housing swap to get the torque arm mount onto it. They are everywhere in the wrecking yards.
I scored one with converter from the pull it yourself wrecking yard for $55 with a 30-day guarantee.
They even have a higher RPM stall converter than the F-body. The 93 & 94 have 1800 rpm stall and the 95-up have 2400 rpm stall. I ended up with a 93 and the 1800 stall made a huge improvement over the stock F-body 1350 rpm stall converter. At the snap of the throttle at 30 mph it would break the tires loose. It never could do that before.
Since you are currently unemployed the time investment of installing it yourself is worth it. It took me about 8 hours to do it having never torn a fourth gen trans out before. I could do the job again in less than half the time now.
You will be out less than $100 including a new filter and fluid.
If you get one from a wrecking yard try to find a donor that has been hit that way you know it didn't end up in the wrecking yard because of tranny problems. Also pull the pan and see if there is any sludge in the pan or if the fluid smells burnt. I would hate to do that swap only to find out it didn't work and have to do it all over again.
Make sure you get the tranny cooler lines connected to the trans before you lift it into place. They are nearly impossible to install after it is bolted up.
Found that 2-wheel drive 93 to 96 Astro vans & S-10 Blazers use a 4L60E that will bolt right into the early LT1 fourth gens and work perfectly with nothing but a tail housing swap to get the torque arm mount onto it. They are everywhere in the wrecking yards.
I scored one with converter from the pull it yourself wrecking yard for $55 with a 30-day guarantee.
They even have a higher RPM stall converter than the F-body. The 93 & 94 have 1800 rpm stall and the 95-up have 2400 rpm stall. I ended up with a 93 and the 1800 stall made a huge improvement over the stock F-body 1350 rpm stall converter. At the snap of the throttle at 30 mph it would break the tires loose. It never could do that before.
Since you are currently unemployed the time investment of installing it yourself is worth it. It took me about 8 hours to do it having never torn a fourth gen trans out before. I could do the job again in less than half the time now.
You will be out less than $100 including a new filter and fluid.
If you get one from a wrecking yard try to find a donor that has been hit that way you know it didn't end up in the wrecking yard because of tranny problems. Also pull the pan and see if there is any sludge in the pan or if the fluid smells burnt. I would hate to do that swap only to find out it didn't work and have to do it all over again.
Make sure you get the tranny cooler lines connected to the trans before you lift it into place. They are nearly impossible to install after it is bolted up.
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 357
From: citrus springs florida
I had no money due to being laid off when my 95 Formula lost first & reverse so my only choice that didn't involve not driving the car any more was to put in a used transmission.
Found that 2-wheel drive 93 to 96 Astro vans & S-10 Blazers use a 4L60E that will bolt right into the early LT1 fourth gens and work perfectly with nothing but a tail housing swap to get the torque arm mount onto it. They are everywhere in the wrecking yards.
I scored one with converter from the pull it yourself wrecking yard for $55 with a 30-day guarantee.
They even have a higher RPM stall converter than the F-body. The 93 & 94 have 1800 rpm stall and the 95-up have 2400 rpm stall. I ended up with a 93 and the 1800 stall made a huge improvement over the stock F-body 1350 rpm stall converter. At the snap of the throttle at 30 mph it would break the tires loose. It never could do that before.
Since you are currently unemployed the time investment of installing it yourself is worth it. It took me about 8 hours to do it having never torn a fourth gen trans out before. I could do the job again in less than half the time now.
You will be out less than $100 including a new filter and fluid.
If you get one from a wrecking yard try to find a donor that has been hit that way you know it didn't end up in the wrecking yard because of tranny problems. Also pull the pan and see if there is any sludge in the pan or if the fluid smells burnt. I would hate to do that swap only to find out it didn't work and have to do it all over again.
Make sure you get the tranny cooler lines connected to the trans before you lift it into place. They are nearly impossible to install after it is bolted up.
Found that 2-wheel drive 93 to 96 Astro vans & S-10 Blazers use a 4L60E that will bolt right into the early LT1 fourth gens and work perfectly with nothing but a tail housing swap to get the torque arm mount onto it. They are everywhere in the wrecking yards.
I scored one with converter from the pull it yourself wrecking yard for $55 with a 30-day guarantee.
They even have a higher RPM stall converter than the F-body. The 93 & 94 have 1800 rpm stall and the 95-up have 2400 rpm stall. I ended up with a 93 and the 1800 stall made a huge improvement over the stock F-body 1350 rpm stall converter. At the snap of the throttle at 30 mph it would break the tires loose. It never could do that before.
Since you are currently unemployed the time investment of installing it yourself is worth it. It took me about 8 hours to do it having never torn a fourth gen trans out before. I could do the job again in less than half the time now.
You will be out less than $100 including a new filter and fluid.
If you get one from a wrecking yard try to find a donor that has been hit that way you know it didn't end up in the wrecking yard because of tranny problems. Also pull the pan and see if there is any sludge in the pan or if the fluid smells burnt. I would hate to do that swap only to find out it didn't work and have to do it all over again.
Make sure you get the tranny cooler lines connected to the trans before you lift it into place. They are nearly impossible to install after it is bolted up.
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