buckethead Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Well, for the past month, when I start my car in the morning, my tranny slips for the first minute or so. I take off, and when the car goes to shift from first to second, it doesn't grab. It's like it just goes into neutral instead. I let off on the gas and wait untill it grabs again and i'm able to drive it out onto the main road. by the time i get there it's gone and runs completely normal with no slippage at all. It only happens when my car's been sitting over night or for other long periods of time. What could be causing this? The fluid level is fine, but i did recently have a problem with a leaking tranny pan... it was a while before i noticed it. I tightened all the bolts on it, and topped off the fluid. I was considering completely changing my transmission fluid and filter, but someone told me not to do this because it could cause problems if it's never been done before. it has 92,000 miles on it and i bought it with 79,000. I have no idea if it was ever changed before i bought it. I'm really hoping it's a simple/cheap fix, cause if it's gonna cost me a grand to fix it, that spells goodbye to the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaloutsider Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Change the filter and fluid. If there's no mechanical problems to begin with, the fluid/filter change isn't going to hurt anything or cause problems. DO NOT perform a flush, however. Those are the things that fuck high-milage trannies over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 how cold is it out when this hapiens? i've heard stories of older 4t60s being bitchy on really cold mornings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaloutsider Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Ironically my 4T60e doesn't do this at all, but our 4T65e seems to do it all the time on cold mornings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Drop the pan and change the filter and fluid. See how it looks and take pics (maybe it's all fucked up like my transmission) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckethead Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 It's not cold at all in the morning when i start my car.... I live in florida, so lately, the coldest it gets at night is only in the low 70s. I'm getting some info from a coworker on a place that does tranny flushes... she said that she brought her car there and they not only flush the tranny fluid, they clean it with another fluid, and then put some special restore fluid in it as well.... she said hers came with a 50,000 mile warantee. then again, her car is a mercedes and didn't have any existing problems, so who knows if i can get the same deal.... She's working on getting a price for me right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regal_GS_1989 Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 If they will offer to do a flush, and then use the restore stuff, and also give you a warrantee, than I would Take it there. Just make sure that they will honour their warrantee, and that the tranny will work when they go to pull it into to the shop. Then if there are still problems, take the car in for warrantee work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Hmm.. wonder if any shops around here would offer a warrantee like that.. that would kick ass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoroCorona Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Most of them have this provision in the fine print. "Not available for vehicles with internal damage" I guess that would be you Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 i had the same exact problem back in december. I live in buffalo so you know the weather here is cold. dumped a bottle of mechanic in a bottle in, and within 15 miles of driving it shifts like new again. after a nice flush and fill with new filter runs like a champ. my guess to the problem would be a varnish and gunk buildup on a valve or something. the motor would rev like it was in neutral and then when pressure would build in the tranny it would grab and then go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckethead Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 well I got the fluid flushed out this past weekend.... cost me $90 at a mobile lube express. I was in there for an oil change and he looked at my tranny fluid... dabbed it on a piece of paper for me... "see your tranny fluid is supposed to be a healthy pink color... this here is brown!" So he hooked it up to his machine and flushed the system for me. I guess if there were any mechanical damage to the tranny, you would have seen some metal flakes going through the clear inlet tube on the machine, he told me there wasn't any so it was probably just burnt fluid. Anyways, long story short, it runs like a champ now... no slipping, plus the shifing through any other gears is way way smoother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 i hope that flush isan't the death blow to that trans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGPilot Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 So he hooked it up to his machine and flushed the system for me. I guess if there were any mechanical damage to the tranny, you would have seen some metal flakes going through the clear inlet tube on the machine, he told me there wasn't any so it was probably just burnt fluid. Anyways, long story short, it runs like a champ now... no slipping, plus the shifing through any other gears is way way smoother. Did they do the filter also? Many of the quicky shops just hook up in line with the tranny cooler lines and exchange the fluid...but do not do the filter. I had a quicky shop tell my wife that it cleans the filter as it exchanges the fluid...it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to clean the filter by exchanging fluid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Yeah, plus wouldn't doing it that way force whatever type of metal shavings into the filter and plug it up?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcrow Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 get a tranny cooler! My transmission died from overheating last year- $1200 added to the credit card LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckethead Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 So he hooked it up to his machine and flushed the system for me. I guess if there were any mechanical damage to the tranny, you would have seen some metal flakes going through the clear inlet tube on the machine, he told me there wasn't any so it was probably just burnt fluid. Anyways, long story short, it runs like a champ now... no slipping, plus the shifing through any other gears is way way smoother. Did they do the filter also? Many of the quicky shops just hook up in line with the tranny cooler lines and exchange the fluid...but do not do the filter. I had a quicky shop tell my wife that it cleans the filter as it exchanges the fluid...it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to clean the filter by exchanging fluid! Actually, he did tell me that. He said that the shop stopped replacing filters because it voided the warantee on some newer cars, plus they were prone to leaks afterwards.... I thought it seemed strange as well. He did tell me though that the way the machine worked was it moved the tranny fluid in the opposite direction and that pushed any of the debris out. Seems to make sense to me because the fluid would force any of that debris off the other side of the filter. At any rate i'm happy with the job he did because the car runs perfect now, way better even than when i first bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 So he hooked it up to his machine and flushed the system for me. I guess if there were any mechanical damage to the tranny, you would have seen some metal flakes going through the clear inlet tube on the machine, he told me there wasn't any so it was probably just burnt fluid. Anyways, long story short, it runs like a champ now... no slipping, plus the shifing through any other gears is way way smoother. Did they do the filter also? Many of the quicky shops just hook up in line with the tranny cooler lines and exchange the fluid...but do not do the filter. I had a quicky shop tell my wife that it cleans the filter as it exchanges the fluid...it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to clean the filter by exchanging fluid! Actually, he did tell me that. He said that the shop stopped replacing filters because it voided the warantee on some newer cars, plus they were prone to leaks afterwards.... I thought it seemed strange as well. He did tell me though that the way the machine worked was it moved the tranny fluid in the opposite direction and that pushed any of the debris out. Seems to make sense to me because the fluid would force any of that debris off the other side of the filter. At any rate i'm happy with the job he did because the car runs perfect now, way better even than when i first bought it. How many miles does your Buick have? I dont know if I should do this or drop the pan and change the fluid filter myself without the flush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckethead Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 It has 92,000 miles on it.... still a little young to have a tranny go on it. If your gonna drop the pan and replace the filter, i think you should go ahead and flush your whole tranny out. I think that mixing old and new fluid is gonna cause more issues than replacing it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 It has 92,000 miles on it.... still a little young to have a tranny go on it. If your gonna drop the pan and replace the filter, i think you should go ahead and flush your whole tranny out. I think that mixing old and new fluid is gonna cause more issues than replacing it all. Really? Mines just about 100k and have heard some horor stories about it. My friend got his tranny flushed in his old Mazda and it was gone less than a month later. But my dad does suggest a flush as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckethead Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 It has 92,000 miles on it.... still a little young to have a tranny go on it. If your gonna drop the pan and replace the filter, i think you should go ahead and flush your whole tranny out. I think that mixing old and new fluid is gonna cause more issues than replacing it all. Really? Mines just about 100k and have heard some horor stories about it. My friend got his tranny flushed in his old Mazda and it was gone less than a month later. But my dad does suggest a flush as well Well, I'm no mechanic, but flushing worked for me (so far anyways). Like someone else said on this board, if it goes after a flush, it was gonna go anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Man trannys suck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Hoken just drop the pan, it's cheaper and you don't have to worry about any possibly transmission failure. Plus you get a new filter, and can see if there is shit on the bottem of the pan and clean the magnet. With a flush you could have a pound of metal shavings on the bottem but never know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Hoken just drop the pan, it's cheaper and you don't have to worry about any possibly transmission failure. Plus you get a new filter, and can see if there is shit on the bottem of the pan and clean the magnet. With a flush you could have a pound of metal shavings on the bottem but never know... Yea . And hey does anyone have that link to Turbo(something i forgot) writeup on how to do this with pics and everything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 http://members.aol.com/regal231/xmission.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 http://members.aol.com/regal231/xmission.htm Thanks alot man! And also you turbo for the great writeup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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