XtremeVette

So you think your having tranny problems with your automatic 700-R4...I think Iam gonna write a book on it.

My problems all started over a year and a half ago. I Was traveling down to Bowling Green Kentucky for the Corvetteforum Cruise In 2. My tranny let go leaving me only reverse and 1st gear about 200 miles outside of Bowling Green. I had to get a tow the remaining miles. Once in Bowling Green I had to make a decision. Do I go with a place that repairs transmissions and pray the thing is done right or do I goto GM and get a warrantee so that I can go to any GM dealership in case it goes sour. Well I bit the bullet and went with GM. Paid $2250 (OUCH..say it with me) But got there OH SO GREAT warrantee (you'll see later why I say this). Anyways. Being its the corvetteforum's cruise in....this is during memorial weekend....OH BOY!!! dropped my car off on Monday to the GM dealership there and they tell me they will try to have it ready so I can leave on the following sunday. They also tell me...that they don't have a tranny rebuilder there and that they have to send out for a rebuild.....(UM hello...anybody else find this sorta odd.....that Iam in Bowling Green? Home of corvettes and they don't have a 700-R4 anywhere around? hmmmm right.....)....but again...anyways....they get my transmisson in from Michigan and begin work....(later on I found out that this is a big no no....and that tranny places will tell you....REBUILD YOUR OWN TRANSMISSION RATHER THEN PUT A DIFFERENT ONE IN)

OK so I get a phone call from GM....cars done.....come on down and pick it up....Being its now a friday and is after 5....mechanics all want to go home....Well when I arrive I see about 8 techs looking at my car with puzzled looks on their faces and hands scratching heads.....Iam like...Oh Great....whats up with this?....They tell me....they don't know whats wrong and that it feels as if its starting in 2nd gear.....sluggish.....but that they reassure me.....it will get me home no problem. They then tell me....yeah....get it home....and go see your GM tech center....they will get it all straightened out.....and basically push me out taking my $2250. Nice huh.

Well if you have read this far....you will think....damn.....that sucks....trust me.....this is just the beginning....it gets better.

So I get the car home and try 3 GM dealerships in my area....nobody has a tranny guy.....they all subcontract out...so Iam forced to do that....I bring my car to one place.....get it back a week later....and they tell me ....there is nothing at all wrong with my car.....I am like...right...ok...whatever....I call up a second place.....and once again....get a lame excuse....this time its....oh yeh...you had too much tranny fluid in....we took some out....your all set now.....geez.....Iam not impressed let me tell ya.

3rd time is a charm I figure...so get the place on the horn again.....this time Iam pretty persistant and make them out a written form explaining everything to the tee whats wrong.....they keep my car for like 2 weeks and then give me it back (with half a tank less gas and like 40 miles tacked onto the odometer mind you) and tell me.....nope couldn't find anything wrong.

OK guys after all this...Iam about to go postal let me tell you.
But I rough it out and calm down....
The next few weeks I get busy and almost completely forget about my vette....then weeks turn into months and then its winter time....so cars put away.

During the springtime in the following year I take and mess with the TV cable enough to get my tranny to feel somewhat like it should. The downside to this.....where the tv cable is....is knowhere correct cause when I floor it....it will not open my tb completely....its at like about 3/4 full.....not good but hey I just looking for something to drive at this point.

So I have been driving my car like this basically the past year now....

Ok so we are up to this year and once again springtime and I have gotten my taxes back....Iam like...ok its time to nip my tranny problem in the butt. So I take my car down to MY tranny guy.....who has worked on my dads truck (chevy 700-R4 mind you!) and my brothers pontiac firebird (also a 700-R4) hmmm anybody see a pattern here lol

I tell him...point blank....check it out repair what needs to be repaired to make it right and give me receipts cause Iam going back to GM to complain and look for some sorta compensation....he being worked at GM back in the 80's and on corvettes has no problem with any of it....

So my car is gone with him for about 2 weeks. He calls me up...ok got it all set and thinks Iam gonna be very happy with what he's done. Cost $450.

I go down and jump in....take her out....shifts very positive and my tv pressure cable seems to be at the reset position....ok...so far so good....I then depress to get a part throttle shift......I only depress a tad and waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh major jump and wine....car screams up to 5000 and feels like a WOT shift....Iam like....wtf is this? I calm down and then bring her slowly up to 55 and then nail it....Nothing no shift to OD. Again Iam like Oh geez....I don't believe this. I try out other things....such as 60 mph in OD and drop it down to D.....nothing happens....then at like 40 D seems to engage....messed up Iam thinking to myself.

So I call my tranny guy and he is like....I dunno Jeff, there's gotta be something that GM did to it.....you have no choice....the damn things gotta come out and be rebuilt. Iam like fine.....whatever....I just want my car back.....So off it goes.....another 2 weeks gone.

I get a call from him on friday and he assures me....we are good.....trannys good....as in fixed...no problems....etc etc.

I go down and he tells me....all the goodies he put in (2800 stall) kevlar bands, shift kit....clutches etc etc). I take it out.....first thing I notice is how the engine seems to freewheel a bit more....almost slip....I rule it out thinking well it must just be the looser 2800 converter. My WOT shift points seem to be on the high side also (5500 for 1st-2nd) and abou the same for 2nd-3rd).....this too not making me the happiest camper. My tranny guy also tells me that well if I take off in first and nail it off the line that the car will just scream and scream and then the motor will start to break down as I hit the rev limiter.....Iam thinking say what!!! (first off I have a 1990....speed density car....IE NO REV LIMITER! or its way up at over 10K) So if my motor is breaking down....hello.....NOT GOOD!!!!

but anyways I bite the bullet and am like....ok....just give me the car and I will try to learn to like it....

That day I am driving home and all of a sudden I feel the RPM's jump up...but Iam going knowhere.....its slipping and doing it pretty bad. I immediately jump on the phone and call my tranny guy....He's like...ahhhhh....its just gotta be a sticky valve or something ....stop the car, shut it down, stomp on the gas a couple times and then start it up again.....I do that.....nothing....same problem....I nurse the car home.

Being frustrated as all hell now.....I explain everything to my father....him and I go for a ride that night in it.....We go for about 30 mins and being my father driving and not me.....(haha its ok you can laugh now)......the car does nothing wrong at all....not one thing!!! grrrrrrr Iam like ok....whatever hopefully it fixed itself.

I then all day saturday clean my car up and get it all ready for a big car show on Sunday. Worked my butt off. I then take off Sunday morning and head down with my brother in his firebird and a buddy of mine in his Chevelle.

20 mins driving all is ok with mine.....and Iam taking it really easy....Nurse mode.....don't want any problems.

About a mile from the car show....it starts once again....slipping! Basically its like this: The car goes 1st to 2nd and then stay's in 2nd and then starts to free-rev like your in neutral and then sorta grabs at around 2800-3000, Iam guessing like 10 percent maybe, it grabs enough to get me to 40-50 in second gear while Iam pushing it to about 4000 rpms. Then when a 3rd gear upshift should occur....nothing....and no OD or 4th gear as well. Iam like....I don't believe this......what luck I have with tranny's...nobody else could have this sorta luck lol! But I at least make it to the show and was even able to slip/cruise drive it home where it sits right now.

I have already been on the phone with my tranny guy and explained the whole thing to him.....he's a nice guy and all and feels bad and is like.....I feel like such an ******* and know how this makes me look....I will fix it and get it right....its just gotta be a sticking valve.....Iam like ok.....whatever it takes....i just want it fixed this time...I don't want it back a 3rd time and have it wrong.

Well to wrap this all up.....(sorry it was so long but this has been bottled up in me for over a year and a half!) lol

To wrap it up....my questions:

What do you think?
My shift points being too high?
Car feels like its slipping too much with the 2800 converter
The 2nd gear only engaging at like 10 percent and only after the car free-revs till about 3,000 RPMS.
No 3rd gear, and No 4th/OD.

Iam just so puzzled in my head.....why is it so difficult for my tranny to get going lol....I must be cursed I tell ya!

Ever have that feeling that you should have just left something alone knowing it wasn't 100 percent but hey its a lot better then where/what you have now....How bad I want to hit the UNDO button right now...lol

How am I able to handle all this you might ask yourself.....well it hasn't been easy I can assure you all.....(couple it all with being laid off) oh yeh fun fun. But as another corvetteforum member told me once.....its only a car....it can be fixed....(Jay down in CT) whom I visited right when his Superram setup has internal motor problems.... After seeing him handle that....I have been changed always and never seem to lose it like I once did in regards to car problems.



Staying Focused!
Jeff

Oh yeh.....my next step once this is all behind me......I gotta battle a more fierce enemy....GM itself and try to get back some of my hard earned money.....Oh can't wait!

CFI-EFI

You're right. It's LOOOOONG. But it pretty much has to be to get the whole story out. Was the first trans from Bowling Green a new or GM rebuilt? Is there any warranty left. It HAS been some time. 1.) Could be adjusted with governor weights and springs, if that were the only problem.
2.) Subjective. It MAY be normal for the converter. It's hard to tell on a forum.
3.) The trans is screwed!
4.) The trans is screwed!

If it applies to what you originally bought and it isn't too late, I'd see if you can't get GM to slide a new one in there. There may be a flaw in the core (porous case?), or some such that isn't evident and prevents a proper rebuild. One way or another, I'd start over. Hopefully with a LOT of assistance. I've got my fingers crossed for you.

RACE ON!!!

XtremeVette

The tranny was bowling green was a GM rebuild....they took mine out and replaced it with another....and where I think all hell began from. Yeh the case being porous and just altogether messed has crossed my mind...there is....and was time still left on my warrantee...but as the story explains what good is a great warrantee if nobody will fix anything...and thus why I went to my guy to repair. He at least found something....but then again...he knew he would be getting paid....GM its the other way around....they will have to either eat it or pay me cause they screwd up....I dunno..I just want to get this behind me....lol

Jeff

vsocks

You will have a battle with GM over warranty repair costs unless they instructed you to go to the local tranny guy. They can claim that they didn't have the right to remedy.
Good luck, I hope that things get corrected and paid for you.

CFI-EFI

I agree with that. I think he's out what he's spent. *I* think the best way to proceed is with a different trans altogether. And I think GM owes him one. Just hang onto that converter until the "new" trans has proven itself.

RACE ON!!!