Help! I have a 2002 vette with 46,000 miles. This week the transmission started slipping and was having issues going into gear. Towed it to the closest transmission shop and they said it’s the Overdrive Sprag Assembly and they want to drop a new/rebuilt Jasper transmission in it and charge me $5800. From the little research I have done the part doesn’t seem terribly expensive and I have never heard of Jasper…don’t we have pretty bad *** transmissions in the 02 already? Have any of you experienced this on your car, especially with such low miles? The guy lost my business the moment he insulted my intelligence by saying he would buy the car from me for $1500 as is. So I am picking my baby up and now on the hunt for someone to fix her. I’m in the Nashville TN area if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. Thanks!

 

The car is 22 years old. How long have you owned it? What is the service history? Low mileage doesn't mean the car wasn't abused at some point in it's life. When is the last time the trans was serviced? A4's are not bullet proof and can fail if abused or not maintained. Find a local auto shop that can rebuild a 4L60E A4 trans. You will pay more than an "average" trans job because you have to drop the cradle to get to the trans and it is a bit of labor versus say a pickup where you can just drop the trans out easily.

RPM, Monster and a few others sell pretty stout A4 trans at various levels of power ability. You are looking at ~3500 for one of them (depemndiong on how far you want to go) and an easy 2g's in labor. So 5grand for a new trans is not way out there.

Jasper is a re-man for engines and trans etc. They are local to me and do alot of business. Never used any of their products but have heard of them. Don't know what their costing is but you can find re-man 4L60E's for 1500 ish from a lot of sources.

Replacement Transmissions (jasperengines.com)

 

I am second owner, bought with 21K and have the full service history. She is garage kept and in mint condition. I only drive her on perfect sunny days and probably baby her. It could be age related, lack of use maybe but certainly not due to neglect or being abused. I keep up with oil changes and fluids.

 

Check trans fluid level,Could be low,Do a search how to check.

 

Start by pulling the codes

 

I dont know what inflation has done to pricing from a GM Performance Parts dealer, but I suspect you could get a brand new 4L70E from them, have it installed at a GM dealer for warranty retention, and still not have to cough up $6,000!!! Not that I'm recommending this avenue. Jasper used to have a great reputation for its engines, but not so much today. I didn't know they also sold A4 transmissions. IMHO, if youre going to spend $6,000, or maybe even less, I'd be calling RPM transmissions. My .02....

 

First before anything the trans fluid condition should be inspect. Smell for burning and look for dark burnt color.
Make sure the trans fluid is properly full. Usually this requires flat surface and fully warmed transmission.
The gear shift lever is also another common culprit for transmission failure and slipping. You should check the cable to ensure it engages each gear fully, properly. The shifting linkage hardware physically controls a mechanical valve in the valve body so it must perfect positioning inside the trans to seal properly and engage a gear. This overlooked frequently

Next
To properly diagnose this issue you must put a mechanical pressure gauge on the transmission.
Slipping is usually caused by low pressure, or bad clutches.
If clutches went bad there should be full brown clutch materials inside the trans fluid, it shuld be kind of obvious and also clogs the trans filter leading to low pressure and pump cavitation noises.

The pressure can be low because of an ECU related issue. like a diagnostic code thrown or bad wire.
The pressure can also be low because of an internal simple issue such as a sticking boost valve or cross leaking in the valve body.

The reason for pressure loss if any is the first diagnostic that should be performed after the fluid stuff and basic electrical diag.

If the pressure is high, proper, and the fluid level is right, and the trans still slipping... now you have some internal mechanical transmission issues to look into.