Transmission does not engage

[spoiledred94]

Went on a 650 mi road trip and got back Sunday. I had no problems with the transmission. Tonight I drove to the bank a few blocks away and when I got back in the car and started it up and put it in gear it went nowhere. Nothing at all in R OD D3 D2 or D1-nothing except just the faintest hint of a drag on the motor from the trans. It'll roll either direction in any drive or reverse gear.

I swapped in a used trans a few weeks ago and other than a leak it has shown no problems. It might be low on fluid, it's too dark and rainy to check it out until the morning. A year or so ago it did exactly the same thing (with the old trans) and it was the trans fuse in the main box. I'll look at that again tomorrow :-/ Any ideas Ol solvers of the insurmountable?

[2000Silverbullet]

If it has a leak, it is probably low on fluid.

[spoiledred94]

I added a little fluid last night in the dark. Checked it today and it's a little overfull. Same problem still. No transmission engagement at all in any gear. Turned my adj trans modulator full up clockwise tried that, then swapped in my old non adj modulator. No change. Checked EVERY fuse except those added for after market accessories. Reseated the transmission electrical connector. The receiving side of the connector (coming out of the trans) is loose. Other than that I could find no problems. I am not even sure which car I should select for this problem on my scanner. The trans body is from a 94 Park Avenue, the differential is from a 94 Olds 88 and the drive and driven gears are from my 94 Bonneville SE. I tried every one of those cars and both data group1 and data group 2 for each. I ran through all of the codes and viewed live data for each . I am not sure what "gear X (X=2nd-4th) SW 'On/Off' " means but it was "off" for all cars and all gears. TCC lockup was "no" for all cars and all gears. The scanner showed trans/brake switch operating correctly. In one mode on the scanner I got codes 406 and 117. I'll look those up and see if they apply.

Looked in the shifter selector compartment. Other than a blown bulb there seemed to be no problem.

I am not panicking yet, but some words to the wise would be greatly appreciated. Any idea if the B&R wrecker will give me any warranty coverage considering the differential and drive and driven swap?

EDIT- fluid color is like new. EDIT 2-P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Low Input, P0406 Exhaust Gas Recirculation Sensor A Circuit High

EDIT 3: I pulled my coolant temp sensor connector and it did not change anything. It didn't even register a DTC, although I didn't run it through any extra on/off cycles to see if it would set a code. Is that normal or does it indicate the sensor is bad.

[crush]

It is your park rod. I put a 92 se transmision in my wifes 96 corrsicka, it did the same thing 3 weeks ago. You need a new trans or a rebuild :sad5: . In the meen time you can put it in nutral rock it free, then just use drive and nutral till you can fix it. I do

[spoiledred94]

Sounds interesting Crush, and thanks, but you are aware that it WILL roll in any gear except Park? So I don't understand what you mean by "rock it free". I've never heard of a park rod.

[crush]

My wouldn't move in any gear, but it turqued up when I moved it in and out of gear, took it to Abco transmision and thats what they told me. First time I herd it to, but if yous rolls it's not the same problem. Hope you get off cheaper than me

[spoiledred94]

Thanks again Crush

[spoiledred94]

If I had my car running, in 1st gear (brakes applied) and forced solenoid's A and B to energize with all other electrical connectors and connections hooked up normally would the transmission engage? I am not wanting to rebuild my trans if the trans is not the problem.

t hanks

[Jrs3800]

IIRC for first gear the solenoids will be OFF OFF... When you put the car in gear you are automatically reverted to 1st gear.... If you go to Manual 1 and still get nothing.....................

[spoiledred94]

IIRC for first gear the solenoids will be OFF OFF... When you put the car in gear you are automatically reverted to 1st gear.... If you go to Manual 1 and still get nothing.....................

My FSM said they need to both be "energized" and to do that their input pins need to be grounded (indicating on on) for first gear. Which I did and it did not engage. If we have the same FSM I can give you the page no: 7A-5A-14. It's actually a table that is all over the trans section

[Jrs3800]

Do you get anything at all from manual 1? and I said IIRC... as I can't remember everything off the top of my head..

at this point I do not know whats wrong with your trans...

Does it seem like it applies gear at all?

[spoiledred94]

Do you get anything at all from manual 1? and I said IIRC... as I can't remember everything off the top of my head..

at this point I do not know whats wrong with your trans...

Does it seem like it applies gear at all?

Thanks for replying Jr's. I have been having a lot of troubles and really appreciate you interest..

I have been meaning to ask what IIRC means. FWI too.

It will roll completely freely when in in any gear at all except park. I got plenty more answers if you got more questions

[myfirstbonnie]

It almost sounds like a dead pump.

If you have no way to test the line pressure, you can always do it by the cooler lines. You basically disconnect the lines from the tranny cooler and hold them in a bucket or pan and have someone else start the engine and see if it pumps the fluid out. You only want to start it for a couple seconds because it will flow fast if the pump is good. If you use a clean container, you can reuse the fluid.

It may not be the recommended proceedure, but it will tell you if the pump is working and that is the heart of an automatic transmission.

[spoiledred94]

Cool, I'll grab a friend and do it tomorrow. Do I need to disconnect both lines or just the trans output line?

EDITED

[Jrs3800]

It almost sounds like a dead pump.

If you have no way to test the line pressure, you can always do it by the cooler lines. You basically disconnect the lines from the tranny cooler and hold them in a bucket or pan and have someone else start the engine and see if it pumps the fluid out. You only want to start it for a couple seconds because it will flow fast if the pump is good. If you use a clean container, you can reuse the fluid.

It may not be the recommended proceedure, but it will tell you if the pump is working and that is the heart of an automatic transmission.

I agree, this is sounding a lot like a dead pump...

[spoiledred94]

Wow I think maybe you guys got Mechanics Sonar Condition!!! If the BOTTOM cooler line is the trans (pump) output then this is it. There was ZERO output of fluid-none. Even with 10 seconds run time. Still there is one thing: Did I have to run through the gears or was leaving it in park ok?


Two other quick questions:

Would being low on fluid or not flushing the cooler after swapping the trans have possibly caused the pump failure?


Yippie I get to pull my trans Again!!!

[Jrs3800]

Exactly how low was low? If you get too low you can scar the pump and damage it..


I doubt the cooler had anything to do with the failure as your previous trans did not fail..

[spoiledred94]

about a qt and a half. That 650 mi road trip cost me that much fluid because of the side case gasket leak. I should have stopped to check the level -oops


Ebay pump link Is this what I am looking for?

I called a local trans supplier, Transmission Supply, biz and Les there was familiar with the 4T60 E's. He said what typically happens is the pump shaft bearing blows and then there's damage from that to the valve body and shavings and debris . He also said that I could check my fluid from my trans drain plug to see if there's debris there. Basically he's trying to sell me the pump and valve body together. (bring it in and he'll match it up as there are many variations within the same model). Price he quoted was $100 for both the pump body and the valve body.

I would like to know what to do if there are shavings in my fluid at the pan.
And if there is not is the valve body and pump asy all that I need if the pump truly turns out the problem. Other than obvious gaskets etc.

And while we're on the subject would a shift kit be wise at this point?


EDIT:I do not want to do a complete rebuild at this time if I don't have to. Too expensive right now and I need to learn more about what rebuilding a 1000 part transmission requires

[myfirstbonnie]

So, how much is a used transmission? I think at this point it would be a good idea to throw in a good used transmission and get the car running and use the bad one to learn how to rebuild and reassemble and do the mods and gear change at that time.

That is why I have never tried to tear into a transmission, you never know if it going to work until after it is in. Even when I did my first engine teardown, I had a junk motor I messed with for a few months to see how things went together and worked.

I think right now would be a good time to weigh the difference between trying to repair this one and it possibly not work again (or for how long) and just using a used one.

[spoiledred94]

I am not unhappy with my used transmission, yet. It's kind of understandable. It had close to a hundredK on it and then it gets thrown into a whole new car with different loads and forces on it. I most certainly should have rebuilt it before i put it in. I was just afraid I'd blow it. I still feel that way. I'll replace the pump and valve body and the side pan gasket and study my video's and manuals and then do a performance rebuild down the road when things are clearer.

Oh, I knew I should have held on to that old trans. The pump and valve body probably would have worked and I could have tinkered around with it to prepare for a rebuild. Should have. I just didn't have a place to store it.