Thread: My 04 is a little jealous b***h haha

What's up guys. Well as the title says, my gp proved that yesterday. I took my girl and 2 kids with us yesterday to go car shopping for her. We went from ft worth to the dallas area which is about a 45 min to 1 hr drive roughly. Light to stop and go traffic in between here and there. That's when the trouble kind of started. From 1st to 2nd gear it will shift kind of hard and from 2nd to 3rd, it will sort of rev a little higher than usual and then REALLY kick into 3rd. From 3rd to 4th is smooth as butter. It was kind of hot yesterday about 80 and I noticed my engine temp a little warm. About 1 line over the half mark which is pretty normal right? But when we stopped at mcdonalds to get some ice cream and chill with the kids for about 30 mins, getting back in the car it shifted normal again until we started with the stop and go traffic again. On the way home it gave the same symptoms but when we were about 5 mins away from the house, from 2nd to 3rd when it revved up high, you could also hear a grinding sound as well. Sort of like a metal to metal kind of sound I wanna say. So with that being said, I know my tranny is going to go pretty soon but my question is, can I buy any time with a filter change, a shift kit and maybe some lucas or something? It's an 04 with just under 152k miles on it and I think the tranny is the still the original one so I know it's in its due time but still. There are no leaks from the tranny at all. Keep in mind as well that this morning it gave no problem at all even on the highway. I stepped on the gas and took off like a bat out of hell. Haha. But with just me in the car, hence why I said she is just jealous of other people in the car with me.

Try a pan drop, filter change, trans-go shift kit and refill. Could throw a bottle of Lucas in it if you want. Might stave off the inevitable. My 00 GT does this when it gets hot out sometimes, wether there are other people in the car or not. Usually when I get stuck in stop/go traffic and it heats up.

Have you checked the fluid level in the trans? Remember- fully hot, at an idle ni park and on a level surface.

Could be the Torque Converter on it's way out. How does the fluid look/smell? If it's brownish in color and smells burnt, you're looking into a possible rebuild. Drop the pan and check for debris. I recently had very similar symptoms in my GXP. My car did this on and off for a few months and then one day after driving home from work, it wouldn't engage at all. After letting it sit for an hour or so, it would go back into drive but only for a short period of time and then it wouldn't move again. Dave from Triple Edge Performance is a whiz with these transmissions. So if it does eventually go out, I strongly suggest picking one up from him.

What kind of burnt smell? I've never smelled a burned up tranny before so i'm not sure what to compare it to. Yea I really wish I could get a fully built one but that price is pretty steep for me. Haha. Does he also just rebuild back to factory specs or just performance?

Yep, he does all kinds of different builds. Check out tripleedgeperformance.com for details.

Just as FordMan said, Dave offers all kinds of builds. Do some searching and you'll see that he knows his stuff. The smell is hard for me to describe other than saying it has a burnt smell... lol I know, not much help there. It doesn't mean something is absolutely wrong, could just be very old and you need a fluid change. Drop the pan and change the fluid and filter. I've read that some were able to reuse their pan gaskets. Also, these transmissions run pretty hot from stock. So if it turns out you only need a fluid/filter change, look into getting a stand alone trans cooler. Still though, doing all that may just be prolonging the inevitable, it all depends on how you want to approach it.

I'll definitely do some research on Dave. I've heard nothing but good things about him so I know he is the guy to talk to when it comes to rebuilds. I will definitely do a filter change and see what that does. How hard is it to install a shift kit? and yea I know it is inevitable but i'm just trying to buy some more time in order for me to save up some and see what kind of rebuild I can afford from Dave. I live in TX so I know shipping is gonna be a pretty shiny penny. Haha. How much does a trans cooler run and how hard is it to install?

I don't have experience with a shift kit but I know there is a write-up somewhere out there. Search around for the coolers, they come in a variety of sizes and prices and it depends on what your needs are. If you don't have any mods, you can get away with something that shouldn't be too pricey. I didn't do much searching for this because I bought the $110 from Dave and he explained that it will fit my current set-up. Not a bad price and it gets the job done. Easy to install if you have some basic mechanic experience with a set of basic tools. It comes with brackets that allow you to bolt it in front of the rad.