Thread: Shifting Issues - Have done a lot of research but have some questions

In reality you pulled 4 of the timing cover bolts when pulling the water pump. The four 13mm on the outer corners are also timing cover bolts..no worries on that. There shouldn't be anything you could have gotten near when doing either of those jobs.

As for doing the pcs for a better cost, PM DanThurs he's in WI and has done them before. He's a good guy, doing work for a fair price. While that's being done, I'd suggest a shift kit at the same time.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think I could have messed anything up while doing a water pump/PS pump replacement, but it seemed to be at the same time that I noticed my shift issues. Wierd coincidence, maybe I was just paying more attention to problems.

I'll PM DanThurs today sometime today.

I talked to DanThurs and he said he wasn't able to do it right now, which I can understand.

I'm debating whether or not to go to a shop right now and replace all of the solenoids/valve body, etc., or to just install the lower shift kit and say good enough is good enough.

Any other advice? Any quotes for replacements for those solenoids or anything that you could share?

If your going to replace all solenoids and the body you might as well rebuild or get a used tranny from a yard.....But, then again it might be worth your while to wait it out before you drop major money. I had the p1811 code, tranny would shift hard on the 2/3 & 3/4 but fine on the down shifts. It would do this everyday intermittently without fail. I could turn car off for a sec, let everything reset and would drive fine for a while but then begin acting up. Turns out it wasn't the transmission at all. Believe it or not it was the fact that my check engine light no longer worked. The bulb blew out ( this I already knew about ) But because I would periodically check for codes and clear the MIL code every time it caused some sort of misplacement of amps that were supposed to be directed for use to the ses light. Or something to that effect, my mechanic explained it better. Problem solved tho, put in new bulb for ses light and after 3 drive cycles with the ses light coming on ( for sticky egr valve) the transmission once again shifts like a hot knife threw butter. no bumps into any gears and smooth shifts under all driving conditions. I almost dropped $2500.00 for a rebuild when the problem was a $5 dollar bulb. A month later I'm still problem free and Soooooooo thankful that my mechanic has a clue :-) Ask around some more and explore possible electrical issues before dropping major cash. Sooooo glad I did.

If you were mechanically inclined, you could do it yourself and save a ton. I'd use TripleEdgePerformance.com for the parts. Dave and his guys are top notch and I've worked with them many times. Odd on Dan, he must be booked up.

I've been on that site a lot lately, tons of good information and the prices seem really resonable. I'm assuming they're a sponsor here?

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting a TransGo kit. The only issue I've heard from this is that you can only easily replace the 1-2 and 2-3 springs, and that the 3-4 shift can be slow and kick in the P1811 code. Any thoughts?

"Beauty", thanks for the tip about trying anything/everything. I've been trying to find all possibilities. I'm going to try switching out a MAP and MAF from a properly working GP (2000 GT) and see if that makes any difference. I want to rule out ALL possiblities. The only other thing I've heard is a clogged cat can give issues (assuming, like a bad MAF, can cause low line pressure by affecting air flow/measured air flow), but I don't know how to check for this without spending more money.

Originally Posted by 99FormulaM6r

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting a TransGo kit. The only issue I've heard from this is that you can only easily replace the 1-2 and 2-3 springs, and that the 3-4 shift can be slow and kick in the P1811 code. Any thoughts?

I did my shift kit just over a year ago (26,000km / 16,000miles), and it is still doing its job. After installing the kit, the only negatives were that when warm, if I romped on it, the 1-2 shift would shudder. I seldom romp on it, so not a big deal. The second thing was I can hear the pump wining, ever so slightly. Both issues are the same now as they were a year ago. No better, no worse.

I never had a slow 3-4 shift, with or without the shift kit. I guess it could trip the CEL, but I don't recall ever reading/hearing about it. Maybe in a worst case scenario?

I still have a "tranny fund" ready to spend if this thing goes all of a sudden, but I think I will get a few more years out of it, if not more.

OK, another question. I don't want to sound like I'm giving up, but a local shop (good reputation, my family has sent vehicles there before and they've been reasonable) recommended a rebuild when I get the funds together. The mechanic said that he could smell something acidic in the fluid, which could be linked to the TC clutch, and that at my mileage it would be worth replacing everything that could be faulty with the transmission.

I was leary about what he said, but he went through a bunch of the problems that the 4T65E's have, almost all of those being listed on this site or on Triple Edge's site, and listed all of the parts he installs during a rebuild, which (once again) is basically all of the parts that Triple Edge includes on their basic rebuild transmissions (including the TransGo shift kit). He quoted me at $2000 for the whole job, and while I don't want to pay 1/3 of what I bought the car for to fix the transmission, I want to drive this thing trouble free for a while if possible. A guy I work with, who used to be a GM service manager, told me they used to charge nearly $3000 for the same job and said he thought it was a good deal.

Does this sound like a decent deal if the other sensors don't work out? Or am I giving in too easy?

Originally Posted by Bronco Boy

I did my shift kit just over a year ago (26,000km / 16,000miles), and it is still doing its job. After installing the kit, the only negatives were that when warm, if I romped on it, the 1-2 shift would shudder. I seldom romp on it, so not a big deal. The second thing was I can hear the pump wining, ever so slightly. Both issues are the same now as they were a year ago. No better, no worse.

I do have a tranny fund ready to spend if this thing goes all of a sudden, but I think I will get a few more years out of it, if not more.

Thanks for the reply. Seems I was typing the same time that you were.

If I knew I could install a shift kit and get a year out of it without having any big problems, I probably would. But after 2 months of pulling my hair out (not literally) I don't know if I want to spend money on a guess. It's definitely tempting though, maybe I'll feel more adventurous tomorrow morning.

Another update (sort of).

I pulled the MAF out of my nieces 2000 Grand Prix and got another MAP sensor out of a junked engine just to see if it made any difference. Although it never threw a P1811 code over the 100 or so miles I put on the new parts, shifting still seemed hard and sloppy. I think I'm going to order the TransGo kit from Triple Edge and get some fresh fluid/pan gasket and plan on doing the install sometime this week. I don't know what else electronically I can look at, other than an 02 sensor that has an intermittent heater circuit problem (which I don't think is changing anything for my transmission).

Hopefully I'll get the kit in and it'll work properly again.....



Also, another (stupid) question. I said that I started noticing the problems after I did the water pump/power steering pump install. When I did the water pump, I never flushed the coolant but rather just pulled/replaced the lower hose and filled, along with replacing the thermostat. I do see little flakes of material at the top of my radiator even now, but the engine temps are always good and have never had any cooling issues, so I never really paid much attention to it.

I've just read that the transmission cooling lines come into the bottom of the radiator. I didn't go out and look at them being it's raining now so everything under the car is going to be soaked. Question is, is it possible that the sediment I kicked up is preventing the transmission to be properly cooled? It's a shot in the dark, but just trying to remove every possibility.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by 99FormulaM6r

Thanks for the reply. Seems I was typing the same time that you were.

If I knew I could install a shift kit and get a year out of it without having any big problems, I probably would. But after 2 months of pulling my hair out (not literally) I don't know if I want to spend money on a guess. It's definitely tempting though, maybe I'll feel more adventurous tomorrow morning.

I hear what you are saying. I say install the shift kit and see what happens. Worst case you have to rebuild, and if you do, the shift kit stays in. The only waste might be the install time/labour and some Dexron.

Originally Posted by 99FormulaM6r

I pulled the MAF out of my nieces 2000 Grand Prix and got another MAP sensor out of a junked engine just to see if it made any difference. Although it never threw a P1811 code over the 100 or so miles I put on the new parts, shifting still seemed hard and sloppy. I think I'm going to order the TransGo kit from Triple Edge and get some fresh fluid/pan gasket and plan on doing the install sometime this week. I don't know what else electronically I can look at, other than an 02 sensor that has an intermittent heater circuit problem (which I don't think is changing anything for my transmission).

Funny. I had a MAF issue just as the tranny issue popped up. Must be a common "series of events" with these cars.

Update - I tried swapping in my original MAP with my nieces MAF sensor....while it wasn't perfect, high RPM shifts happened much much quicker and smoother. Still a little bit of shudder on low throttle shifts when hot, but I think I'm going in the right direction (this was after driving about 50 miles, AC on, about 85 degrees out - so definitely with a hot transmission). This is only going off of that sensor combination for like 3-4 drives, so I'm thinking that letting the ECU re-learn with good sensors will help. Apparently the junk yard MAP that I got isn't much good.

I think I'm going to try a new MAF (although I hate paying $150'ish to buy one) along with a transmission fluid flush for now. I think letting the ECU reset with a new MAF will yield some decent results, or at least hoping it does so I don't blow $150 without any good reason....any problems after this, and I'll go with the TransGo with an extra cooler I think.

Either way, seemed to lift my spirits.