Thread: Transmission self repair?!?! like, WTF?!?!

So you might have read the other threads I have up, but this is something that has come up in the past 3 or so months.

Backstory: bought it 2.5 years ago in Germany, it ran...ok, dealership f-ed it up, blah blah blah... Replaced fluid and filter myself 2 years ago, dex IV and WIX, lots of clutch material, no shavings, problem appeared. No forward when cold, revving at a stop sign and slamming into gear, erratic shifts between 2-3, so I think time for a rebuild/replace. No money. Changed fluid/filter again 1 year ago, used 5 qts dex VI, 2 qts Slick50 trans treatment(couldn't get lucas), ACDelco filter, problem got slightly better. Shipped it over the sea to AK, seems to shift ok, slightly better than before. Stop driving due to issue with title, sat for 6 months over the winter. Hit -40* F a few times, kept it plugged in with oil pan heater, trans pan heater, battery heater, block heater, trickle charger. It started every time, no issues. Finally get the title for it from Germany, start driving it more often, still have the same issues but to a lesser extent. I have put about 350 miles on it since then.

FF to today... I realize that I no longer have any of the issues I had before, over 1 year ago. Trans shifts smooth all the way to 4th, I even tried WOT a few times, never seemed to phase the trans at all. I even got the tires to squeal a few times. I have done absolutely nothing to the transmission other than what I have listed above... Does anyone have an explanation for what could possibly be going on? Is it the additives? The new fluid doing some form of flush? Or do I have a unicorn behind my engine? I would like to know if anyone has ever seen this happen before...

Not quite, but I don't deal with the cold temps you do. My car is an 05' GTP and last year while it was still quite warm (still in the high 80's-90's) I would take off from a stop sign and it would slam into gear at times and just shifted real slow and sloppy. I did the shift kit and changed fluid and filter had a lot of material as well. It didn't look good, but it wasn't as bad as others I have seen. The shift kit really didn't seem to help a lot I would be very careful when leaving a light to see if it would kick into gear and take off but every once in a while it would just rev and slowly take off and about the time I thought it wasn't taking off fast enough it would jolt and take off. It seemed to do it at least every few days but just a few times here and there. I ended up getting DHP about December and changed my shift times and raised the pressure about 20-30% and it hasn't really done it again since then, maybe once or twice but not much at all.

Jeff

With a shift kit and a tune... I have literally only changed the fluid, and added some Slick50. These transmissions don't have a history of taking abuse and keeping up. So I'm still cautious, but optimistic with the recent experiences.

I also said "not quite"...

I totally didn't see that. Lol but to go from nearly undriveable, unable to move out of my parking spot, to going an entire week without anything? The more I test it, and harder I push it, the "snappier" it seems to shift... I'll keep it normal driving for now, but I guess the real test will be the top swap. I just want to know what could possibly be going on inside there... The more I can understand about it, the longer I'll be able to keep it running.

I will of course, who doesn't want to pet a unicorn? lol I did one final test today after work, yeah yeah I know... but I had to know.

So I went out to the edge of town, one of the old country roads had just been resurfaced two days ago, about 4 or 5 miles long. It got up to about 75-80 degrees today, so it was nice and sticky... had my buddy ride out there with me in case I didn't have a unicorn... got to the edge of the fresh asphalt, and floored it from a dead stop. I've never heard her scream like that, and damn it felt good. Got up to about 150 before I had to slow down, slowly... Now I know somebody messed with the car before, because I'm pretty sure there's a limiter somewhere...but it was in Germany for a few years on the Autobahn. So that might have been why it's not there.

My asshat friend didn't record it though, so sorry but no proof... I do need new tires now. lol

its possible that new fluid plus additives cleaned up sticky pressure solenoids.

That's quite possible. lol I'm just thankful for it. I've gone though everything from the thicker fluid moving things around more efficiently and not squeezing past seals, to multiple changes cleaning out the valve body, to new fluid flushing the clutch material out from between the clutch plates, to the additives actually doing what they claim(still don't believe it) and a whole slew of other ideas as the culprits to this transmission acting like it's new... still no concrete evidence. I just know that the next fluid change will have a bottle of lucas going in, along with a shift kit, mostly for precaution than to fix anything. The trans did hesitate once yesterday, but it was in the same way my wife's car does with the same kind of stop & go traffic...hers has 7k on the clock. lol