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I might have posted this on the wrong place. But I have a 1996 w/ a 4 speed with 40K original miles. It had some deleting and tuning done to it, along with tranny issues when I first got it. It would only drive in 1st, and reverse. I changed the fluid and filter twice (it was very dirty), swapped the 2-4 servo and band assembly. And the speed sensor, since it was leaking fluid. Now it sometimes shifts to 2nd. But it seems like I have to let off a little from the pedal to get it to shift. Lastly, while manually shifting, second would land on the mark of "D", and first would move along the 1 and 2. When I looked at the dirty fluid, the shavings were extremely fine, nothing like a grain of sand big, more like fine dust.And there really wasn't much of it either. Right now, I would like to take the best, yet most cost effective route. Without the costs adding up. Taking it to Gm for diagnostics will run around $143. Ebay offers full replacements for about $600-$1k w/warranty. A full new tranny from GM would probably run around $3-4k, and a rebuild running anywhere between $1.5-$3k. I believe it's the valve body causing the issues. Considering how dirty the pan was, I wouldn't doubt the valves are stuck
Last edited by TheKodiak; May 20, 2022 at 08:59 PM.
Because 2nd lands in the D spot, I would look at the shift cable end (at the trans side). I accidentally bent the end on mine while removing the exhaust and it messed up the shifter location. Once you have that worked out, I think you can continue on the diagnostic trail. Instead of replacing the trans, why not just drop the valve body and give it a good cleaning. A lot cheaper and you may get lucky.
Because 2nd lands in the D spot, I would look at the shift cable end (at the trans side). I accidentally bent the end on mine while removing the exhaust and it messed up the shifter location. Once you have that worked out, I think you can continue on the diagnostic trail. Instead of replacing the trans, why not just drop the valve body and give it a good cleaning. A lot cheaper and you may get lucky.
When you say bent, what exactly do you mean? I saw it when I changed the trans fluid last week. But I didn't know that I was having issues with it manually until yesterday. I've been considering about messing with the valve body, although I'm debating on whether to clean it or just replace the entire valve body.
Where the cable hooks from the shift lever to the cable bracket is a section of the cable that is a solid metal rod (under the rubber bellows), make sure it is straight and not bent. Adjust the cable, I like to put the trans in neutral and the shifter in neutral and then connect them. The valve body should be very simple to clean, just make sure you use Clean parts cleaning fluid a dry with lint free towels.
Where the cable hooks from the shift lever to the cable bracket is a section of the cable that is a solid metal rod (under the rubber bellows), make sure it is straight and not bent. Adjust the cable, I like to put the trans in neutral and the shifter in neutral and then connect them. The valve body should be very simple to clean, just make sure you use Clean parts cleaning fluid a dry with lint free towels.
I'll have to check it out. I did noticed the boot was looking pretty bad
I was checking out the Tranny's on ebay. Am I understanding this correctly? Once the tranny is installed, it must be programmed? I know the '96 has an electric tranny. Could it be possible that my tranny needs to be reprogrammed? Also, in order to shift, I have to depress the gas a little. I believe, As if it was a manny tranny. I might have even gotten it to third. Does any of this make sense to anyone lol?
Update: I took it to GM, they asked again if I wanted to move forward. And I agreed. They then hooked up the computer to the car, reviewed everything, reflashed the transmission controls and..... well nothing. Of course not entirely, I learned that the the shifting wasn't really happening as I thought it would. On the ECU side, everything is fine. But for some reason, the tranny isn't responding to the computers commands. Even when I tried forcing it to shift using the diagnostic computer itself (yes, I got to play with the computer). It still does nothing. While the computer is already at four, it's still in first physically. The gear selection cable/switch is working fine too. Now that I know 100% that it's mechanical and not a bad tune. I can move forward in comfort. It was cool as hell looking at all the entire values of each component on the computer. Seeing it all in action made me feel like a kid again.
Update: I'm still at 50% on every mission. I swapped the Pressure Control Switch, and the shifter linkage seal. And well the tranny stopped leaking. So instead of dropping $400 on a valve body with a separator and other extras, to possibly still having to drop the $1.6k on a rebuild. I'm going to just have it rebuilt. I'll try to find out what exactly went wrong with the it.
I ended up replacing the shifter cable, to no avail. Then after digging and digging. I decided to drop the valve body and separated everything. Laying it out accordingly, while matching it to the SM Diagrams. I noticed I'm missing two springs, and a valve. Also, some how this guy was inside, and I couldn't find its place (Lone Valve). Now I'm beginning to think it was the valve body this whole time! Thoughts???
Best Route
