4L60E Tranny (Soap Opera)

blaffoon · July 25, 2004

Please hang in there with me on this one. I have a 1997 Tahoe. Factory Auto Tranny went out at about 125,000-130,000. In Nov. 2002 I took it to a local Tran shop and they installed a re-built tranny. But when I picked up the truck it shifted real hard from 1st to 2nd and the gear selector mechanism on the side of the tranny was messed up. I.E. when you were in Drive the selector on the dash read Neutral. The mechanic said that they tried adjusting it but the mechanism sometimes doesn't read correctly after it has been disconnected and re-connected and it would have to be replaced. Well I thought that was a bunch of baloney so I never did change it. The tranny lasted 5 months and went out in April of 2003. Fortunetly it had a 6 mo. warranty. When I got the truck back this time the bang hard shift from 1st to 2nd was gone but the gear selector was still messed up. It is now July 24, 2004 just over a year later with normal driving conditions and never pulled anything and this transmission will now not shift from 2nd to 3rd or overdrive. It goes into Rev. and Drive solid and will shift from 1st to 2nd and this is all. You guessed it, I took the truck back to my friendly tranny shop and it is now out of warranty and they will not stand behind it other than testing to see if it is an electrical problem and then charge me to fix it. A report to the BBB has definetly crossed my mind. Could anyone tell me if this could be an electrical problem before I go searching for a new tran shop. I hope it is not the clutches. Please reply, and thanks for listening.

Also I just notched out the gear selector mechanism on the side of the tranny today to get more adjustment out of it and all gears are reading correctly on the dash now.

Blaffoon

mazingo · July 27, 2004

my tranny in my 96 blazer went out coud be a servo or bad valve body. sounds like my old th400 when the governor went out. take it to a different shop the one you went to first sounds shady.

Chris97K1500 · July 27, 2004

That shop sounds shady, never heard of not being able to fix the selector after disconnecting it. I just had my 4L60E rebuilt about a month ago. The first to second hard shifting after a rebuilt can be normal. Especially if they added a shift kit to it. It should have gone away after about 200 miles of stop and go traffic. The computer has to relearn how to shift with a new shift kit that causes an increase in the line pressure to the tranny. IF it stayed around for a while, probaby not fixed correctly. Mine drove fine in Reverse, 1st, 3rd, and OD, it just wouldn't shift from 2nd to 3rd without playing around with the gas pedal. It would just keep increasing in rpm's in 2nd (although not speeding up) I could tap the gas a couple times gently and it would upshift to 3rd. 2nd gear was completely gone. Good luck trying to get it fixed, at another shop! Chris