Hello! I am looking to buy an LS1 Trans Am. I went and test drove an automatic 1998 today with 23,000 miles on it. The car was perfect except for one problem. When I took off from a dead stop, the car felt like it was slipping. I asked the owner if he felt it and he said it was part of the CAGS control. Does this sounds right? I thought the CAGS control was only part of the 6 speed. I called the local dealer today and asked the service manager and he said it was not supposed to do it. I just wanted another opinion cause the car is very nice but also pricey and I do not want to be stuck rebuilding a tranny. Thanks for your help!
Adam

 

What exactly do you mean by "slipping?"

You're right, CAGS is for the M6.... Computer Assisted Gear Selection or something like that.

Jim

 

Thank you for replying!! What I mean by slipping is, when accelerating mildly, you can feel the car start to move, then there is like a bump in the road feeling, like the tranny just fully engaged. I guess it can be called a hesitation but it just feels like something not fully engaged then catches itself a second later. Im sorry I cant explain this better, but I was hoping someone else had the same thing and knew what I was talkiing about. Thanks for all your help.
Adam

 

I kinda know what you mean. I just bought my car a little over a month ago, and sometimes when you start moving or drop a gear, its like it takes a second or two for the torque converter to kick in.
Unfortunately I am not that knowledgeable with these cars or transmissions in general, but mine does something similar. So from my perspective, it's normal.... But I could be wrong.
Hopefully someone more knowledgeable could answer because now I'm curious if the guy at the shop said this isn't good. Thankfully I still have a warranty.

So to sum things up, it's probably the torque converter locking up and mine does it too so perhaps it's a normal thing. We'll see who responds though.

Good luck!

Jim

 

My 94 when the tranny was stock would do that but only if you went to stop and slowed down but then the light turned green so you step on the gas to go again and get a clunk.
It was normal on my car, in fact the trans go shift kit used to advertise that it eliminated this clunk.
You might see if some of the LS1 guys have this problem with a stock auto.

 

Thanks guys!! I was hoping someone was going to say it was normal cause I really want this car!! Its not that bad of a clunk to were it would be annoying, I just noticed it and wanted to make sure it wasnt going to crap out after a while. I am going to try and talk to the guy and see if he will let me take it to a shop and have it checked out. I will get back to you will the results.
Adam