1997 Bonneville Transmission Surges

Sep 03, 2006 3 Replies

I have 1997 Bonneville with 101k miles on it. I had the transmission rebuilt about 8k miles ago. When the car is warmed up, usually takes about



30 minutes, the car will surge in about 200-400 rpm intervals at highway speeds. It is especially bad on loads or inclines. It will eventually do this at lower speeds too, after I have been driving longer. The rebuilt transmission has been replaced by the transmission shop and it still does the same thing. When you bypass the computer and manually lock it up, it will not have the problem. All of the wires to and from the transmission have been checked, as well as all of the grounds. Also, no error codes are in the computer. No check engine light. Could there be a fault in the computer and it needs to be replaced? I have owned the car since it had 22k on it and have never had any trouble with it. I have also changed the plugs, wires, coil packs, fuel pump and fuel filter.

Use a tremec box. You hook it up to the computer to manually shift the transmission.

transmission

Why did you have the transmission rebuilt?

I had similar experience with a 97 Bonny. Started at about 80,000. Eventually, the convertor got to where it wouldn't lock up at all....first in really hot weather, then progressively cooler.

Finally, it set a code P1870. It took almost 2 1/2 yrs and 40,000 miles from first surge to consistently being a problem. I was told by my trans shop that not many shops will tackle a P1870, and even fewer will successfully cure it. I have had no more trouble since, in about 18 months and 30,000 miles. And yes, I did have them fix just the problem, not rebuild the entire trans. The problem was in the valve body.

Eric Frommelt wrote:

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