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lost first gear and will not downshift

bigdawg00

bigdawg00

New member
I have a major problem with my trans in my 2000 gtp. I drove up the street to pick up my son from a friends house and the car was fine. An hour later I left to go to the store, I put it in reverse and backed up, then put it in drive and it didn't want to take off. I had to rev it to about 2000 rpm's just to get it to move. The once it got up to about 20 mph it was pulling fine. Then I pulled over at the gas station checked the fluid and it was full but smelled a little burnt. So played around with it some to see what else it was doing and noticed it would shift from second up to overdrive fine but once its in fourth it will not downshift unless I slow down or manually shift it. Does it mean the trans is shot or is it something easily fixed? I found a low mileage trans out of a 99 gtp for cheap. Will it work? Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to give you as much info as I could. Thanks. Jason
 


Jason,

It kinda sounds like it started in third. Try and confirm which gears are still there. One shift solenoid would effect two gears. If you think you only have third gear and TCC lockup, then that would suggest the fuse blew. Definately worthwhile checking the fuses.
 
It has second, third, and overdrive. Where are the fuses located that may have blown? I would be so relieved if it were just a fuse. Check engine light is on but has been for a while because it says that it had the wrong t-stat in it. I was going to fix that when I flushed the cooling system. Thanks billboost37 for the insight.
 
Being a Regal owner, the best I can tell you is...."in the fuse box?" :D If you were down two gears, I'd think it was a shift soleniod, if you only had third...a fuse. Missing only one gear and acting funny. That's odd.
 
Thank you billboost37. It was the torque converter fuse in the underhood fuse box. Put a new fuse in and it drives like a new car again. Thank you again.
 
Sweet...I helped a guy today.

Quick question, was that easier than swapping the trans and finding the same issue? I know a guy that did that. Wanna talk about egg on face.
 


It blew another torque converter fuse. So replaced it again, then it blew that one too. What would cause it to keep blowing fuses?
 
The TCC fuse is also the same fuse for the shift solenoids. There is a pink wire that goes to the trans and is ign v+ feed for the tcc and two shift solenoids. If any of these solenoids are damaged or shorting the fuse will blow. Also though not too common to find I have ran into a few cars that inside the wire harness under the air box the wires can rub through and short on each other or rub through bad enough to short on the AC accumulator which is also directly under the air box. Your best bet is to ohm check the solenoids and make sure they test ok. This can be done through the pcm connector or at the transmission connector. This should be done with the battery disconnected and then you can leave the transmission connected and use an ohm meter with one lead at the tcc fuse and then measure the resistance at the pcm connector. This way you are testing everything from A to B. You can check right at the transmission also but is pretty tight and there is not much room on the harness just behind the trans connector to get to the wires.
 
Okay, this is getting frusterating. It quit blowing fuses and did fine for several weeks. Now its blown 7 fuses in 2 days. My friend tested the shift solenoids and tcc lockup and it tested within the ohm limits. Could it be a grounding problem?
 


Like everyone said there is a short or an overload somewhere. check for wires shorting out in the areas they said . I understand it can be very frustrating.
 
I'm going to check that wiring harness under the airbox. This problem didnt start til i put in the fwi. I took the fwi back out and put back in the stock airbox and it quit blowing fuses. Now its blowing them again. Thanks guys. I appreciate the help.
 
Well, the check engine light finally came on. My buddy scanned it and it gave 2 codes. P0753 and p0758. That few suggests bad shift solenoids. Anyone do a how to on changing these? I'm mechanically inclined but what info I found makes it sound pretty hard
 


Inclined is a good start. This is a decent sized thing if motor/trans swapping isn't something you've done.

You need to support the motor/trans remove the subframe, drop the trans side to get the side cover off and then the solenoids are right in front of you.
 
I've done a lot of engine and trans swap, but no grand prix's. What all is attached to the subframe Luke brake lines, ect., that needs to come loose? I looked under it but without jacking it up, I can't see much. Is there a gasket that needs replaced when you put the cover back on or is it just etc? Thanks billboost, your always a big help.
 
Also, when you drop the subframe do you leave all the suspension in tact, minus driverside axle? Do you just take the 4 subframe bolts out and the top 3 strut bolts out? I'm just wanting to soak up as much knowledge before I start this project.
 
Take a look at one of the trans swap posts I've done for details.

Mostly it's the ps rack (two bolts)
Pop ball joints
Pull DS axle
Unclip/bolt ps lines from subframe
Unbolt trans and engine mounts from frame (4 nuts)
Undo abs wiring if it's on the sub (based on year)
Check for stragglers
Ensure motor/trans is supported above and drop the sub.
Then I like to use an atv jack to lower the assembly. If you shim with a 2x4 etc you can dip the trans more than engine.

Gasket on the sidecover is often reusable. Unless it comes apart on you. Then it's around $40 IIRC.
 
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