Alright, I have a hunch I may be able to fix my transmission without paying $1,600. However, it's a hunch. Being automatic and all...I could be totally wrong for all I know. Automatics are too sensitive.

Anywhos, my transmission has been slipping for awhile now, sometimes not at all, sometimes hard (Depending on how much I drive it that day). I can't tell if my clutches in 1st and 2nd gear are bad, because R has only slipped twice, where as 1st and 2nd gear are more frequent to do so. However, I once replaced all of the fluid from the pan with repair slip fluid and Dex GM transmission fluid. Well, for about two weeks, the transmission didn't slip not ONCE, and ran perfectly like brand new. Then after that it started to gradually get worse suddenly remembering "Oh dur torque converter still has bad fluid in it", so now I'm thinking about flushing out all of the old crappy fluid and replacing it all with new fluid, and more repair slip fluid.

Car has 170,960 miles on it.

Thoughts?

---EDIT


Okay, for the past few months my transmission has been running really violent, as in 1st and sometimes 2nd gear shift real hard or slip way too much. It's only gotten gradually worse. I would have flushed out the old transmission fluid and put new in before, but I was always told that was a bad idea by numerous people. Well, seeing as it was the cheapest thought out solution at the time, I sucked it up and flushed the car out myself (The transmission). Lo and behold, the transmission fluid was horrid. Was almost black, and dirty. However, it didn't smell burned, which is what a lot of people asked me. I think it just got so dirty over time never having any maintenance and the guy who had it before me with the attitude he took out on the car probably never made it any better either. However, I got everything flushed out with no problem until only brand new Dex transmission fluid was flushing out, and had it all done. Keep in mind, I held my breath a few times during this project hearing the negative opinions about flushing a high-mileage transmission.

But! It ran PERFECTLY after I had everything done and gave it a test drive. In fact, it ran the best it's ever ran since I've had it. Not only that, it sounded better, had more power, and ran like it was new. I was pretty proud of myself and felt a little accomplished. Well, with my luck, I pulled back home, parked it, grabbed something to take back to the store, and as I got back in the car, it acted up again. It wouldn't catch first gear in Drive to save its life for about 7 minutes, then shifted hard. Well, I drove it down the road to see if it would do it again (Smart me, right? Like I should be running something like that in the first place). It didn't get any better, so I took it back home.

I turned off the car and checked the transmission fluid to see if it was burning or had become discolored. The transmission fluid still was brand new and was not discolored at all, nor smelled bad what-so-ever. I have not run the car since this, and I'm letting it sit over night for work tomorrow. What's strange I've noticed lately is if I leave my car along for a few hours at least, it runs better. Not only that, the more frequent I run it during the day, the worse it gets.

Somebody pointed out that it could be a solenoid not functioning properly. After finding out exactly what a solenoid does, I figured it could be the cause, but I'm still not entirely sure. Suggestions? Opinions?

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

Bump. Its been several days.

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

Your transmission is shot. Bottom line. What is happening is when the transmission fluid heats up, it loses viscosity (thickness), and therefore your transmission starts to slip and act up. The longer / more frequent you drive it during the day, the worse it gets b/c the fluid is warm/hot.

Putting repair fluid into the transmission was just a band-aid. Transmission fluid doesn't get "dirty", its a sealed system. Unless you have smelled new transmission fluid before, you wouldn't be able to detect if the fluid smelled "burnt".........but if it was dirty and black, I guarantee it was burnt.

Either way, when you flushed out the old fluid, you took all that clutch material that was held in the fluid and got rid of it...therefore making the problem worse.

All of your solenoids are more than likely shot to shit inside the tranny since all the clutch material has clogged them up, plus your valve body probably needs a good cleaning.

You need a complete rebuild.

_________________

Click HERE for updates and pic of the car!

So what is making the fluid so thin? I thought about that before, but never heard of it happening. But then again, transmissions are not my trend.

Also. I failed to mention that the past few days I've discovered cycling through P, R, N, then D every now and then when stopped at a red light or something almost, if anything, eliminates slipping and hard shifting. Why is that? I even ran it all day long using this little trick, also slowing down a few hundred feet from the stopping point in N, and I got almost no problems at all. I know my transmission is bad, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

The fluid thins out because that is what it is supposed to do. In a properly maintained and operational transmission, thick fluid will harm the transmission at high temps.

I'm not transmission expert at all, so I can't really tell you why those little tricks would help the transmission out. I do know you are in desperate need of a rebuild if thats what you have to do to keep her running. Good luck man.

_________________

Click HERE for updates and pic of the car!

Thanks. You should totally throw some people my way who might know if you can.

Anywhos, today I got a transmission cooler (Always wanted to get one period), and got everything working with it without any problems or anything. Well, its working wonders for the car (After figuring out "Oh hey I don't have to worry about the two seals/socket pieces that fit where the transmission lines were hooked into the radiator. As long as I just put them back in and go."). Also think there's a possibility the transmission line that goes through the radiator from the top to the bottom has a leak and is actually leaking water/coolant into radiator, making the transmission fluid really, really thin the times I've checked before (Like water thin). Possibility? It might be. I thought of this though by being able to smell transmission fluid in the coolant over flow tub and the sediment that was on the sides of it. Thing is, I replaced my radiator with a brand new one months ago. So, not sure. However, in my mind if it's leaking into the transmission, that would thin out the transmission fluid a lot and really screw up the gears and whatnot.

Now that I have that cooler on, and the transmission lines are not running through the radiator, it's strangely acting better, and performing nicer. It's shifting better too. Not a WHOLE lot, but slowly better every time. I also haven't been able to really run it a whole lot, but the way it's been acting, each hard shift or slip gets better each time it happens.

Just trying to understand what's going on. : P

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

Nothing to understand bro, you keep band-aid'ing this dying transmission. Running that burnt and soiled fluid through that brand new tranny cooler is only going to ruin it...................

I wish you luck, there is really nothing else here that can be said.

_________________

Click HERE for updates and pic of the car!

Well I'm taking it in tomorrow to AAMCO to possibly rebuild it.

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

A big update.

Got my car's transmission completely rebuilt. Runs better than new, let me tell you. Car kicks into gear like a miniature race car; it's really fun driving it now. Since I've had it back (3 weeks almost now), I've had no issues out of it what-so-ever, except the alternator screams when I gun it because I got degreaser on something, but it hasn't squealed for awhile now, so I hope it wasn't it trying to tell me to get a new one.

Other than that, I've made other cars look twice, and it's a good feeling being able to kick up to 50 from 0 like no tomorrow, whizzing past dumb ass drivers in Albuquerque traffic.

Got some new slotted and cross-drilled rotors coming in, including an aftermarket cone air filter (Not K&N...yet) as well. Also working on getting a new set of rims a friend is offering, and new headers. God, stock headers are like sandpaper on the inside...they should at least be polished down. Jesus.

I just might make a thread showing every update to this car I've had so many new changes...lol.

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

Glad you got it sorted out.

What was the cost on the re-build? I'm heading in that direction and I'd like
to get my finances in order.

_________________
Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

At first, with a few clutches and torque converter problems, it was 1,600$ At AAMCO. However, I went for an entire rebuild, since half of it was financed from my college funds, and it cost around 2,600$. Practically everything is brand new, and there were some aftermarket parts put in that I can't name off the top of my head.

Average rebuild at AAMCO is anywhere from 1400-1800$.

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

Thanks, Raphial.

_________________
Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

No prob~

_________________

2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!