Trans gone?

**zeppelin913** · 03-12-2012

I need a little advice on my transaxle. I've got a 2000 GTP with just shy of 170,000 that has recently had some major issues. As of yesterday, the car won't leave neutral except in reverse or when put into 1st. When trying to accelerate in 1st it feels like a manual when someone is riding the clutch really bad. VERY slow acceleration. I can put it into 2nd and once it gets into 2nd gear, it accelerates normally. Then it has problems again when it makes it into 3rd. Again, the gas pedal is like someone has their foot on the clutch. 4th gear seems to be ok. I used to work for GM Powertrain so I have a good idea of how everything works and I think the clutch plates are shot but I just wanted to ask around before I condemn it. Could there be a problem with a solenoid, speed sensor, or ECM that is causing just 1 & 3 to act up? Do 1st and 3rd share any clutch plates or other components not used by the other 2 gears? I would tackle a rebuild myself but I'm hesitant since I live in an apartment and would have to rent a storage garage or something to do the work. Any recommendations or advice would be great.

Thanks!

**Nickell** · 03-12-2012

sounds like your main drive chain snapped. Thats what happened to my old trans, sounds exactlly like what your describing.

**Nickell** · 03-12-2012

1-2-3 are ran off of a seperate chain, which is what allows you to use them when the normal "D" is incognito.

**zeppelin913** · 03-12-2012

It will drive in D once I get out of 1st gear, just not from park.

**Bluemagic** · 03-12-2012

Originally Posted by Nickell

1-2-3 are ran off of a seperate chain, which is what allows you to use them when the normal "D" is incognito.

Great info. Never knew that, my trans just died so that explains the whole driving in 2nd gear and no drive in D.

**Nickell** · 03-12-2012

zepplin, it will go into D once you are moving because you are not trying to start out with the "D" chain, instead you are going into what it thinks is 4th gear.
You are basically driving the car like a manual once you stick it into 1 to get going.

**Nickell** · 03-12-2012

I should say, it will go into "D" as long as you are going fast enough to be in 4th gear.

**BillBoost37** · 03-13-2012

Nickell with all due respect, you are incorrect.

All gears are driven off one chain in our 4T65E transmissions. Gears are actuated by applying a band and pushing fluid into various clutches to engage them. There is a band that is applied for reverse. There is another band that is applied for all forward gears (forward band) then there is one last band, that when applied holds 1 or 2 (manual 2-1 band).

In this case, the OP has a typical foward apply band failure. When the band breaks it can not hold the assembly. By shifting to 2 or 1, the manual 2-1 band applies and it holds poorly by itself. Hence the slipping. Reverse is not effected by the broken forward band.

Here is the info from TEP
Wont move in D or 3 only

Here is a picture of the one set of chains (or single chain if upgrade/modified) in our transmissions.

**zeppelin913** · 03-13-2012

What I've gathered from all of this is that the trans needs a rebuild...I'm wondering how much work rebuilding it myself would be. I've replaced both half axles before and a bunch of other work but never tackled a transmission other than in a class years ago. Any recommendations on rebuild kits or about how much it will run to rebuild this myself. The car is stock and I'm just looking to get some more mileage out of it since it has all new suspension, brakes, fuel pump, exhaust, etc...I'm really not willing to pay 2000+ on a car that's over 12 years old with 170,000 miles. Any advice is appreciated.

**dsmuts** · 03-13-2012

If you rebuilt it yourself with good stuff it'll likely cost around $700 or so give or take a little. If you plan on putting any power down then you should upgrade the input shaft and chain.

**BillBoost37** · 03-14-2012

Personally from the sound of your post. I'd look on car-part.com for a low cost replacement. Replace instead of rebuild. If you pull things out, you'd want to redo all the clutches and seals ($~200) and while there you should put the valve body upgrades in ~$350-400 and then a few misc things and tools to resize the teflon rings etc.

**zeppelin913** · 03-17-2012

You really think it's necessary to upgrade the valve body? The car is bone stock and is only driven about 50 miles a week in the city. We just bought a Sky Redline about a month ago so I'm just looking to get myself to work and back.

**Nickell** · 03-17-2012

Bill, is that not what i summed up to without being complicated?

When the drive chain breaks you can still drive the car because 1-2-3 is driven off of a different chain.

Both of my tranny problems have been a snapped main chain..

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