Another transmission thread

[morpho18]

Ok, so i've posted a few threads about my 95 ATX starting to have problems with some tranny slipping, and it slowly getting worse. But after more searching, I found something interesting. A lot of times people ask if the car is shiffting at 7000 at WOT or bouncing the rev limiter. What if my car doesn't even go to 7000? At WOT my SHO will never shift past 6,000 in any gear. Is that because the overdrive is on?

Then I noticed more and more that I have rather sporadic up and downshifts while driving. When going up a decent incline at about 35-40mph, it just wont pick a gear. It upshifts, downshifts, upshifts, downshifts. Is it maybe the VSS? Would a bad VSS throw a code? I haven't had any codes since I fixed my EGR problem last April.

The car has TONS of power! Aside from the standard mods (TB coolant bypass, silencer cone removed) and maintenance, I haven't done anything to the car and it absolutely hauls balls. THere is a little bit of noticable slipping when I get on it hard, but once its hooked up, it pulls very hard. The only maintenance I've performed is new plugs and wires, valve cover gaskets, and decrapped the intake, and that was well over 7000 miles ago.

I am leaking a bit of ATX fluid, about half a quart per month, but I'm about 95% sure that is just the pan gasket's doing.

Once the pan gasket is changed, and I'm maintaining a good level of fluid, should I look to replace the VSS, or do I truly have a transmission problem?

 

[3.8Lwagon]

change the trans fluid atleast twice with 10k - 15k inbetween. my 3.8 was sliping bad too but after the first change the sliping was dramitacly reduced. after the second change almost all of it is gone.
fyi use senthic atf fluid. it takes the high temps of our trans alot better.

 

[95SHO32]

How many miles are on the tranny? My 95 does the samething and it just needs to be rebuilt, mine has 147000 + miles on it and it will hunt and jump in and out of gear ranges under load, with isuue of not reaching 7000 rpm is the tranny/in need of a shift kit and ck's to the line pressure.

 

[revhardSHO]

Turning OD off does not change the trannys shifting characteristics
IIRC, WOT shift points are:
6700-6800 rpm 1st - 2nd
6600 rpm 2nd - 3rd

I could be wrong, its been a while since ive driven an ATX. (Thankfully)

 

[jaded93atx]

Yes the VSS throws a code 452 if it fails

 

[morpho18]

the tranny has almost 108K on it. I went out yesterday and did some WOT runs to see if it would bounce of the rev limiter. It didn't. Nice firm shifts at 6800 for 1 - 2 6600 for 2 -3...didn't have room to get to any other gears.

Am I just being paranoid? I swear I can feel the transmission slipping at times, but it has yet to not miss a shift and bounce the rev limiter. Once my tax return comes in, I'm going to take it up to a transmission shop and have them take a look at it, and then put in a new filter, pan gasket, synthetic fluid. Once I have the verdict from them, I'll decide where to go from there.

If the tranny is fine and I'm just being paranoid, I'm going to grab a Ted B LPM for sure, but should I also get a transgo shiftkit? Or should I leave that for when the tranny needs rebuilt for sure?

Thanks for all your help guys/gals!

 

[Jaxon]

To put in a shift kit, you have to drop the transmission, so that would probally be ruled out. I think that your transmission sounds fine, but if it has 100K+ miles then it should be flushed and get a new filter.

 

[morpho18]

I think I'm going to go the route of the flush and filter and a Ted B LPM...maybe a 80MM MAF....i dunno

 

[morpho18]

I changed the transmission filter, pan gasket, and refilled the tranny with fluid this weekend. Finished the job in just 3 hours, and the car shifts great now.

Just one thing. When I pulled the transmission pan, there were some noticable pieces of metal on the magnet. When I got the magnet out, it was covered with a really dark sludgy substance that reacted to the magnet...was it just super super fine metal particles? There were 5 larger pieces of metal that worry me. 2 of them were bigger than the rest, measuring about 1cm long x 5mm wide and 3mm thick. The other 3 pieces were all about 3mm x 3mm or smaller.

The shape of the larger pieces is wierd. If cut into a cross section, the shape would resemble a trapezoid. Any ideas of what this could be?

It's the original tranny with 108K miles, so is 5 metal pieces not many considering the miles?

 

[morpho18]

bump.