Rolling down the road Wednesday night, leaving a stop sign, up to about 20 MPH and all of a sudden I'm slowing down while my RPMs go up. Trans stopped pulling! Never felt anything "break" and didn't hear any noises. Pulled off the road and while sitting still I tried D, 1, 2 , and 3. Same thing in all gears, engine revs but tranny doesn't pull. Then I tried reverse thinking I could back it home (5 miles from the house w/ no stops) but in reverse not only did it not move, but the throttle had no effect at all. I could floor it and the RPM didn't even change.

I shut it down and called a friend to drag me home (w/ his chevy :/ prolly the best day of his life!). It was only about 25 degrees out and just in the 10 min I sat there it cooled down enough that when I restarted it and tried to put it in gear it moved, so I told him to follow me and took off... a 1/4 mile later same thing, rolled to a stop and he ended up dragging me home.

Last night went out to warm it up to check fluid level. When I started it, it went into reverse and worked normal and then into drive and worked normal. I did reposition it in the driveway but did not go for a ride. Once it warmed up the same problems started, no forward gears worked and the throttle didn't work at all in reverse.

Anybody have any ideas what would cause this? Initially I was thinking 3 things, torque converter, fluid, or electronics. The fluid was nice and red and right up to the top of the "full warm" on the dipstick. I don't think its the TC cuz it seems to work fine when it's cold started. I don't know crap about the electronics involved with these trannys... I appreciate any help/info.

 

You need to put a trans pressure gauge on the test port on the side of the tranny and see what your pressures are i the various gears.

Might be low pressure, might be blown diode (mechanical not electrical), might be blown clutch.... not sure. hopefully mark will be around soon... he was on the team that designed the thing iirc.

Richard

 

I can rule out the electronics. There is no way that electronics can cause this. It's something mechanical.

The suggestion to put a pressure gauge in the test port on the driver's side of the trans is the best way to diagnose this. Get a 0-350PSI gauge with a 1/8NPT thread. Read the pressure at idle in P, N, D, 3, 2, and 1. Also read those pressures when it won't engage.

 

You got the guy here that KNOWS that trans very well.

Mark I like the signature test you have.

 

I'm going out to get a gage right now. Thanks for the help guys!