Hey guys, I've had a few problems with my transmission for a while now.

1. The car has to be warmed up in the morning for about 10 minutes for it to shift into any gear(sometimes pushing the lever to '1st' will make it shift early) -- also I can sit there and rev the motor while in gear, and it will catch, just like dropping the clutch...

2. About a year ago, the car started making a 'buzzing' noise when I'm in gear, but at a full stop, (or moving very slowly, with little gas applied.) It sounds like a metal-on-metal vibration coming from the transmission area... I know it's not the mounts because they are new. The tranny has possibly 180,000 miles on it, or maybe far less, because I don't know the vehicle's history prior to 110,000 miles. Now the sound is getting much, much louder, and it's so embarrasing that I put the car in neutral at stop lights, which makes the sound go away. -- until recently, that is... because now I'm getting slight 'flutters' of that same sound when I'm in neutral/park.

3. I haven't been able to burn out very well for about 60,000 miles... the car seems to shift strong when I'm driving it... never misses or anything I can tell.. but literally, I can sit there and power break and no matter what ... I cannot get the tires to spin... I can sometimes get ONE tire to chirp on the right kind of surface....


4. Ever since I got my steering column worked on, some wiring was repaired, which (for the first time since I've owned the car @ 100k miles,) allowed the torque converter to actually "lock up." Although when I'm on the highway, and it locks, (like it should,) when I give it some power to climb a hill or pass someone, I have to jam on the gas to force it to unlock completely... otherwise I get a loud BUZZING sound which I know is painful to either the tranny or the torque converter.

So, I have:
- a loud buzzing sound when I'm in gear at a full stop, which is getting louder by the day. -- and now it's starting to make a small 'fluttering' version of the same sound when in neutral/park.
- loud buzzing sound if I only moderately accelerate once the torque converter locks up... I have to use the pedal to unlock it completely to make the sound go away.
- poor initial torque (no burn outs--at all.)
- I have to rev the motor, or let it warm up in the morning to get it to shift into gear.

my first thoughts were that the mechanism that locks the torque converter is slipping, which would explain the buzzing sound on the highway... (the rpms also rise, like the TCC isn't locking properly)

but what about the sound when I'm at a stop light? does that sound like it might be the actual tranmission pump? which could possibly explain the fact that I have to rev the motor in the morning for the car to shift into gear?

also, I'm sure the fluid is very old, but it doesn't look TERRIBLE when I check the dipstick (I won't change the fluid, from the fear of destroying the 160k-mile-transmission.)

Whew... thanks in advance... because if the noise is any indication of the state of the transmission, I'd say my tranny will be making a full-out buzzing sound, in park, in a few months...

Thanks,

Steve

 

no one has any thoughts? has anyone here had a tranny pump go out on them? what symptoms would that cause? grinding/buzzing?

thanks.

 

I would suspect the pump.
No matter what it is going to have to come out and be rebuilt.
When dealing with transmissions you normally don't just replace the bad part and throw it back together.
It is so much work to tear it apart, it might as well be rebuilt at the same time.
Regardless if it is a pump all of the debris has just been circulated through your entire trans. You will even need a new torque converter.

 

thanks, that's what I feared... oh well...

I wonder though, on a properly-functioning 700r4 with a locking torque converter, what happens when you try to accelerate on the highway? Does it immediately unlock and go back to regular overdrive, or does it stay in as long as possible? -- also, it should never make any sort of weird vibration/buzzing sounds, right?

Thanks.

 

It is going to depend on the cars computer, At a certain amount of throttle position the ecm tells the TCC to engage/disengage.
Usually under a floored condition the tcc unlocks and the trans. shifts into a lower gear.
It should not make any noise, it will feel like an extra shift when it engages.
If the tcc was not functioning you may have over heated the fluid and caused damage that way.

 

If I use full-throttle, the TCC disengages just like it should. It's only when I give it enough to, let's say, pay someone, that it feels like maybe something is slipping... I don't have a very good understanding of how a locking torque converter actually works, but I'm assuming that somehow when I apply the gas, it's putting more torque than the TCC (in it's current state) can take, and it's slipping inside the converter... I don't know if it's like a brake shoe pushing against the inside of the converter casing, or some sort of locking mechanism (metal-on-metal,) or what... but I think whatever it is, it's definitely converter-related...

before my TCC actually worked, (due to wiring problems with the brake switch,) I never knew I had problems, because the converter never actually locked up... I got 17MPG/2,300RPM/85MPH... now I get 26MPG/2,000RPM/85MPH... nothing else has changed...

this means the converter could have been bad for years, and myself, and the previous owner had no idea...

is there any possibility that the converter is working perfectly, and something in the tranny is causing this strange buzzing sound? (until I disengaged the TCC, that is--which then the sound is eliminated, totally)

but... dang, it sounds to me like I'm gonna have to get the whole thing rebuilt... $950 for stock rebuild---1yr guarantee no matter what... $1250 to replace the drums as well--for higher horsepower...

are those good prices?

 

I may be misunderstanding some of your symptoms.
The ONLY time it vibrates and makes noise is when the TCC is engaged?
The brake switch tells the TCC to unlock, if it is not unlocking you will have terrible acceleration and the engine will chug.
If the TCC is slipping it will only do it when it is engaged, your symptom would be intermittent with the TCC lock up engagement.
If it is slipping you will feel vibration on initial engagement. Usually it will go away at constant road speeds (steady 50mph down the highway). No torque breaking the TCC loose.
However if the TCC is slipping you still are going to have junk floating through your trans. and potentially causing damage.

If you suspect that it is indeed the converter, unplug the square connector on the front drivers side of the trans and take it for a ride. If the problem goes away it is your converter, if not you have some internal damage.

Usually a buzzing or whining sound in park/neutral that varies with rpm is a broken pump.

Let me know what you find.

 

yup, exactly, I don't have the sound unless I try to accelerate once the TCC is engaged... I know for certain if I pull that connector (or have a broken brake switch--that somehow prevented my TCC from engaging for several years,) that the problem will go away.

so if the pump is bad, I need to rebuild the whole tranny? oh well...

if I'm hearing "metallic buzzing" coming from the tranny when I'm at a stop light, in gear, which is twice as loud as it was 3 months ago... I wonder how long I have left on this tranny pump?

I guess the sound used to go away when in neutral because the pump was spinning faster and lubricating the transmission better... and at the 500-600RPM range of in-gear idle, the pump is hardly moving, and not lubricating as well...

I'm saving up for a 90ish trans am for about $6000, and this annoys me because I'll be dropping $1000 into a car I don't plan on driving much... arg!

is there no way to prolong the life of my dying pump?

Thanks for your advice/comments.

 

I had the same noise in my 700R4. I rebuilt another trans while driving the car. After the trans was rebuilt I swapped it out with the old one that had the same metal on metal sound. I did not replace the torque convertor in the swap. That was a big mistake that I later found out. The noise came back after about 3,000 miles. I have since rebuilt both transmissions. The problem was the torque convertor which in turn had soo much play inside that the alignment through the pump was off enough to make the convertor snout rub the teflon coating off the pump bushing. After the teflon coating is worn off then its metal on metal. I removed the guts from the rebuilt unit and all was okay but the pump bushing. I had the torque convertor rebuilt rebuilt and HD parts put inside and the fins were bent and welded to a 2800 stall. I have also rebuilt the motor and having some issues getting it to start. So I'm unable to tell ya how it drives.

 

I see... I just need to get both the tranny and the converter rebuilt at the same time...

do you think that a 2,500 stall would work with my v6?

if I powerbrake I get much better launches... and I thought that having a higher stall is effectively like powerbraking... am I right about that?