PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Here's the story. I have a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville SE - currently at 260k miles. At ~150k my torque converter clutch soleniod would ocassionally stick open. The "fix" was to pull over and shut the car off for about 10 seconds then the issue went away. After limping my transmission through several years of P0742 codes (TCC solenoid will stick on at random, happened fairly rarely at first, maybe every 2 weeks, then progressed to up to every trip to work and back). My methods for getting through was to use transtune and switch the fluid. Seemed to help but I have decided to replace the TCC as well as the 4 motor/trans mounts as I let the bad front mount go for too long and think it took out the passenger side mount. This car has spent most of its life in MN so I expected some stubborn and rusted fasteners. The transmission in it now is a rebuild and since I still have over-drive (though sometimes it waits until the car warms up) I assume they used the hardened shafts.
After getting to the part where you remove the sub frame bolts on the driver's side the front one stopped progressing. The mechanism inside the body somehow failed and started allowing the nut to turn. There is no access to this nut as it is designed not to need access. Great idea until you need access. I have cut a hole in the body and have tried to get a wrench on top but the locking mechanism not only stopped being able to prevent the nut from turning but also prevents me from getting anything on it. I think this nut is a 22mm - trouble is I don't have a 22mm wrench, and my 22mm socket is way too shallow to use. I may still be able to lower the engine and transmission enough to replace the TCC solenoid by removing the mounts, but don't know how I will tighten the front sub-frame bolt. I've spent way to much time trying to get this bugger out so that's the plan for now but it will have to get addressed at some point.

If someone can confirm the size wrench for this nut I plan on giving that a go, or if you have any other ideas, I'd appreciate it. I'm way to far into this now to turn back. Thanks

Good news. After some prayer and thought I pried up the keepers, opened up my access port and was able to get an adjustable wrench to stay on the nut. It still needed a lot of persuasion, resorted to heat followed by PB blaster and it finally came out. Whew! Reassembly shouldn't present too many challenges (on this part anyway). Looks like I will be adding some welding to the project also. I'll let you know how it turns out in a day or two.

Glad to see you were able to work it out without resorting to torches, hammers, a Sawzall, and a new car check to make sure there are no signs of previous cross threading on the bolt / nut before reinstalling, if there is replace them for sure.

Finally got back to working on this tonight. I removed the transmission side cover, pump, pressure sensor and heard 3 things drop into a pan as I removed the valve body. My fear was those were the little 1/4" checkball valves. Indeed, I recovered 3 in my catch pan. According to my transmission manual, there should be four 1/4" valves in the valve body and four in the channel plate, plus two 3/8" checkballs in the valve body. I have all the checkballs in the valve body, two 1/4" checkballs in the channel plate and three in the catch pan. According to my math I have an extra 1/4" checkball, and one of the two that didn't fall out of the channel plate isn't where it is supposed to be (it's to the right, but may be able to travel in the channel). Maybe an extra checkball is what has been causing my torque converter clutch solenoid malfunction.

Even with a service manual I'm not comfortable taking this thing any further apart. I don't see any other checkballs in the manual so I am tempted to believe I actually do have an extra ball that isn't supposed to be there. Can any of the 4T65E guru's out there confirm?

Also - for those of you that have done this, the only way I can think to get these to stay in the channel plate for reassembly is to jack the engine/transmission back up a bit as the tilt on it to get the side cover off enables them to just fall out. In retrospect, I should have leveled out the transmission BEFORE taking the valve body off. I'm all ears if there are other ideas on that.

I have pictures, just not sure how to post them.

Thanks

I've replaced the solenoids and PCS in the valve body. The trouble is still in channel plate. The lower-left checkball isn't in the position it's supposed to be in the picture, but it looks like that one moves through a channel. Everything I've tried to get it out has been unsuccessful. Pulling vacuum through a 1/4" line isn't too strong and none of my magnets seem strong enough either. Since it looks like it is supposed to move, I'm tempted to leave it and begin reassembly but I REALLY don't want to do this job again, if possible, so I don't want to do something stupid here. Since I have no way of knowing where the extra checkball was, I have no way of knowing what kind of problem it may have caused. I'll work a little more on removal but this has already taken way more than I budgeted for time.

Make sure the manual you have is for a 2000 transmission not just for a 4T65E in general as the valve bodies likely changed over the years which could change the check ball locations and how many there are.

As for the check balls, petroleum jelly will hold them in just fine and won't do any damage, just dab some in on a Qtip and push the ball in to hold it, it doesn't take a lot so no need to go overboard and fill up the cavity.

Thanks on the petroleum idea.
I got extremely lucky and found an image that shows exactly where the "extra" checkball is supposed to go. It happens to be related to the TC, so I expect I would have some issues if I left it out. The post is actually from this site, but the pics don't show up (original post: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1483) but the images are able to be seen here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... nsmission/

Although this is for an HD the channel plate appears identical and shows not only the one I am unable to get out, but one in a position just to the left of it. I'm pretty sure that is where it is supposed to be so I will press on with reassembly and hope for the best.

I am not 100% sure on this, but I believe the channel plate will be the same for HD or non HD so you should be ok. The main difference is the differential.

Boy do I feel stupid. Upon further examination there is a big difference in this location on a HD transmission. There is no seat for a checkball on my trans like there is on a HD. The 1/4" ball would have just fallen into a channel and ended up who knows where. And the thing I thought was a checkball is actually not a checkball at all. It is similar in size, just slightly larger and not moveable. The actual location for the checkball is connected to the same channel to the left. All but one (just so happens to be this one) of the checkball locations have a keeper tab so they are obvious. This is the only one without a keeper, but upon inspection I don't see any other place it can go plus it matches the manual.
Unfortunately, I broke one of the shift solenoid screens installing or removing the valve body so now I am stuck due to a $2 part. For those of you that attempt this project spend a few more bucks to have them on hand just in case, and be careful trying to install the valve body. Mine was trickier since I had jacked the trans/engine back up to keep the balls from falling out. Looks like I will be waiting for parts again, which may be for the better since the sub frame spacers look pretty flat. I might order those as well.

Update
I've been working on this every couple days or so. Because the passenger side mount was bad I had to lower the sub-frame on that side. The front mount on that side did the same thing the drivers did (plate the nut is welded into started spinning) so I had to cut an access on that side too. Unfortunately, the rear bolt broke about 1/2" under the head. Luckily, it was the one that you have access to but man oh man did that thing give me trouble. Once that was taken care of I started reassembly on the drivers side but I made a fatal mistake by waiting to fill it up with transmission fluid. On reassembly the cove r seal in the side cover had slid out of position (no way of knowing this as you assemble it blind) and started leaking. This is also where the CV output shaft seal is and I assumed that was the issue so another wasted part and effort was spent replacing that. I had to redo EVERYTHING! Luckily, all the bolts were free and it only took about 1/10th the time it did the first time. I still have plenty of work to do but the fluid is in and so far nothing is leaking. My warning for those of you contemplating this is to save yourself potential rework and start replacing the fluid after you get the cover on and the place the axle in. Don't forget to reinstall the front mount (like I did). Also, plan on having 4 gallons of tranny fluid on hand. I've used an alarming amount of my tool arsenal on this project, I only hope this extends my 4t65e several thousand miles. Hopefully the road test happens in the next day or so.

Good news, at least for now. She's back on the road again. Shifts great, and the P0742 code has cleared itself. I do still have a stumble when going up slight inclines I haven't quite pinned down yet. Other than the rusted/frozen and broken bolts this really wasn't that bad especially considering I have never touched a transmission other than fluid and filter changes. With the bad mounts I had the engine had moved so much the passenger side CV boot opened and let a fair amount of grease out. I think that is the reason I have some vibration when turning left, but that's a job for another time. We'll see what happens.