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'97SE - no third gear. A few questions.

B

binkerton

New member
Hello all, this is my first post. I own a '97 SE w/3800. The car has 151K, I bought it used a few years ago so I dont know its history. About a year and a half ago the transmission lost 3rd gear. When driving, the car will hold 2nd until 45-50 mph (depending on amount of throttle) and shift directly to 4th. If I manually drop down to 3rd it drops all the way back to 2nd and will not touch 3rd. I pulled the pan and found what I believed to be clutch material in the pan. I went ahead and changed the filter and fluid and hoped for the best. No such luck. So could there be another problem other than needing a rebuild? I've found on here that even though my car is a '97 it still has the 4T60E trans. If I get one from a boneyard is there a difference between other 4T60E's I should be wary of? And is there a visual difference between mine and the 4T65E that I can watch out for in case they try to sell me the wrong thing?
 


It sounds like your 3rd gear clutches are shot or your 3rd gear sprag is bad and not holding which will cause your condition and this means rebuild to repair the problem. I cant help you out much on interchange other than you really need to replace the trans with what you took out of it as there are numorous variations of that transmission. Morad Parts Company may be your best bet for a known good trans that will be a correct replacement for your car. The easiest way to distinguish a 4T60E from a 4T65E is is that a 4T60E will have a vacuum modulator canister on the front side of the case that points straight forward, a 4T65E does NOT have this.
 
The 4t60e's were plagued with problems, but unfortunately the electronics and wiring just isnt there on the 97se to do the 4t65e upgrade. You would need a harness and computer for a 98+
 
Thanks for the replies. I figured it wasn't gonna be an easy out. I cant decide whether or not I want to risk a used one or invest in the rebuild. Car-part.com shows my local yard as having a few that came out of '97 G.P.s, if thats the case they should match up correctly, right? Or were there still variations between the same year?

If I decide to rebuild is there certain things I should request being replaced besides the normal "wear parts"? I should specify that this car is completely stock and will probably stay that way. I just want it to be a reliable family car. My hot rod is a '87SS.:th_king-evil:
 
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