I have a 97 RS chevy camaro & recently I've been having problems accelerating. One day my gears happen to be off...I would shift the car to reverse, but my car would not go in reverse..it would just rev the engine..like it was neutral. When i actually put it in neutral, it would drive. When I put it in all the other drives, it would drive also. I just had no reverse. Then for some reason the next day it was fine. But ever since that day..everytime i try to accelerate my RPMS almost redline at about 25-30mph. My RPMS rev the engine like crazy..but my car accelerates slowly! I will floor it..RPMS redlining, and i will be going like nowhere!...whaaaaaaaaaaaaaats going on? Does it have anything to do with my transmission?

-thank you much!-

 

Is your transmission slipping? You need to watch redlining the engine all the time will destroy it.

 

Its safe to say your tranny is on its way out. never seen this exact problem in a camaro but a cavalier i had completely lost reverse. everything else was good just no reverse. you can try to flush it and change the filter and maybe add an additive to the new fluid, but those symptoms sound pretty bad. take it to a trans shop just to get a quote. good luck

 

I'm assuming you have an automatic. Does the car also start (ignition) in gears other than park and neutral?

Try this: drive the car, come to a complete stop as if parking, and instead of putting the car in park, killing the engine, and taking the key out, try leaving it in drive with your foot firmly on the brake, killing the engine, and seeing if the key will easily slide out. Normally, the key will not be able to come out until you shift to park. Anyway, if any of that stuff is the problem, I'll look in my Haynes manual and tell you what it says.

This situation sounds familiar (I remember reading it), but I don't know the answer off the top of my head at 2:45 a.m.

 

The linkage could be loose or broken, the tranny could be on the way out or the shifter indicator may be broken and giving a false reading. Check the tranny fluid and see if its dark and smells burnt. If it is then its time for a rebuild. If its still nice and pink check the linkage from the tranny to the shifter.

 

A warning on changing the fluid. My car was slipping so I tried changing the fluid and it went that afternoon. It could work but it could also kill the transmission.

 

Brangeta .......... i tried it...and my key will not come out unless it is in park..so that parts normal.

i also checked the transmission fluid...and that too is normal.

 

Do you have an automatic or is it a manual 5-speed?

If automatic, my Haynes manual says if you don't have reverse, your fluid is either low or bad. It suggests changing the fluid as well as the filter.

However, based on your description, it sounds like your shifter was pointed at the usual letters/numbers on the console but the gears were wrong. My Haynes manual says this is related to the shift linkage as someone already said. Probs caused by an improperly adjusted shift linkage are:
1) engine starting in gears other than neutral or park
2) indicator pointing to a gear other than the one actually engaged
3) vehicle moves with transmission in park position

Until you figure this problem out, I would suggest you start setting your hand brake/emergency brake everytime you park. I do this, and I don't even have shifting problems; it has an added benefit of helping adjust the rear brake calipers/pads on LT1 cars too (not sure about LS1 brakes).

 

Your fluid does not HAVE to smell burnt for the trans. to be bad, just usually does. It could look and smell fine and your trans. could still be broken. After a thorough check, if it turns out not to be the linkage or pointer, I would at least pull the pan and see how much material is in the bottom of it.

 

You already admitted it was BAD before you changed the fluid. Changing the fluid can not and will not MAKE your trans. die.

 

Yes its an automatic. Well, the thing is, the gears were only off for that day. My car will go in reverse now, drive, neutral. But for sure that definately doesnt deny the fact that, that one day i coudlnt and it jus doesnt do that for no reason. The only problem i have now is the acceleration, and it has been like that ever since my gears were off. So yes im taking it to a tran shop to see whats up! thankkk you guys!

*~*Italian Baby*~* =)

 

Where do you live? If near Dallas, I am friends with a GM World Class Master Technician who rebuilt my transmission. He is excellent. He charges for the price of the parts he can buy with his GM discount and his labor rate is merely $50 an hour. Let me know by PM if you want his phone number.

 

If the car is actually in the correct gear, apart from not downshifting right, acceleration should not be affected. Assuming, of course, it doens't clime right to fourth and stay there, if it has the ability to find the right gear, the lack of acceletaion is on the engine side of your drivetrain...

THAT SAId... If your car is in the wrong gear, that would explain it.. some.. If it's still doing the whole, climb to 30, stay at the redline, it sounds like it's not coming out of first, which is indeed a tranny problem. If it starts in first, then climbs to the redline, but does so very SLOWLY, it's an engine problem AND a transmission problem...

If you park it, then get up to freeway speeds, can you count the number of shifts? If it goes to all the gears, but is still patheticly slow on first, it's not (just) your tranny.

 

You may even want to do something as simple as remove the shift **** and take off the shift plate and see if you have a bunch of coins in there or something. I don't really understand why your acceleration would be affected unless you had no 1st gear maybe. If you need help removing the ****, look at Shoebox's website... I forgot the URL...

Regarding Justin Horne's response...
In "D" your car will only use gears 1,2,3
In "[D]" your car will use all 4 gears, 1,2,3,4. 4 Is the overdrive gear

My transmission had to be rebuilt "supposedly" because I only drove in [D] when on the highway, otherwise I stayed in D... which is "apparently" bad.

 

Brangeta.....

actually the day this all started i was driving on the free way in [D], and since i sometimes drive stick i have a natural habit to keep my hand on a shift **** and also i play with the button sometimes, i accidentally switched from [d] to d while i was going around 90-95ish and my car didnt SOUND to happy with that mistake. But thats when everything started because as soon as i got off the freeway i noticed my acceleration problems, and then later that night is when my car didnt have its reverse..only to find out that the next morning my reverse was there and the gears were ok, but the acceleration was still messed up. was that relevant at all? haha