1998 SL2 Automatic Transmission Problem

I would start by checking the fluid level. Not sure if you ever changed the fluid or filter. Most likely its the valve body thats wearing out.

Heres a good place to get started

Since valve body appears to be a fairly common problem and the few experiences I've had are much like those described is there any way to go about wrenching Saturn into paying for it?

Any advice?

EC

Blah Blah wrote:

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Yeah its namely the TCC valve on the 4l60e. GM knew how to make a valve body and they got things back in order now I think... They just didnt bother to take into account that when you went from iron to aluminum you have to make changes at that time. (such as making valves larger and longer to reduce wear) The cast iron valve bodies held up great. I think once you paid for every VB fix from sonnax for the 4l60e you would of been better off to of bought a upgraded replacement VB from GM. Not pratical for the diy'er but if you have a trans shop it would pay off.

Heh, is there ANY GM tranny that DIDN'T have TCC issues with it? Though, they poped up on a few other cars too. IIRC, Ford used a centrifugal setup on the C5, I have no idea how well it works, but they dropped it. The AOD had a real assinine setup on it, which made it easy and fun to blow up...

Yeah. They're complex as heck, though :( But they do work very nicely.

Interesting, when did they change? ISTR Ford used aluminum long ago, at least, I think they do. The C6 I did for a friend was from the 70's and the VB seemed to be light enough to be aluminum...

Powerglide! :)

go to saturfans.com. do a seach on the forums for reverse slam. there is a fix that has a good success rate. what you do is change the trans fluid, add a bottle of prolube trans treatment. put the car in reverse with the e-brake on and let it run for

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TH350's and TH400's were pretty decent.

Ahh yes. The Turbo 350 kills bushings hard, though. Good tranny, but kills bushings. They had a stabalizer ring in front of the seal rings on later ones to help this.

I'm not too familiar with the 400, other than it's a funky neat design, and early ones supposedly had center support troubles. But it's supposed to be a really good tranny after that.

Beats most Mopar stuff, though some people swear by the A727....

More weirdness: I recently changed the valve body on a 93 SL1 because of extremely hash shifting, check engine code, and sometimes a strange squeal. I got a factory manual, and following all the steps, replaced the VB with one from

There is probably an easier method, but I've found that the best way to reset the engine and trans computer is to simply remove the battery cable for about 5 minutes, then re-connect it.

On the slow shift to reverse, is the trans fluid full to the top mark when the engine/trans is at its operating temperature? Does it have the correct fluid installed? When was it and the filter last changed?

Bob

transmission