If I'm correct '97 Bonnies have 4t65e. Do '96'*? If not can they still be swaped? What are the diffs between the 2? Where is the best place for diagnosing these problems? My '96 has first,no reverse or other gears (supposedly) Going to verify tommorow. Makes a noise in gear,but quiets to almost nothing in gear. One thought is torque converter. Any guesses?

Transmissions are really not my strong area. But I do believe the 96 has a 4t60 trans, and the 97 has a 4t65. I don't believe the parts are interchangeable.

You are correct, the parts are not interchangeable.

Not parts the whole tranny. Will it bolt up and work?

It should actually bolt to the motor and maybe even somewhat mount up but unless you are prepared to rewire the car and change the computer, you are opening a can of worms.

I do think that a 97 SE may have a 4T60E. A 97 SSE-SSEI may have the 4T65E. You need to verify where the transmission connector is. A 4T65E has the connector in the top of the side cover and a 4T60E has the connector on the side of the case near the front bell housing bolts.

Your trans probably has a broken Reverse Reaction Drum which is a common failure on a 4T60E. It can ALMOST be fixed with the trans in the car if that is all that is wrong and the person fixing is experienced in rebuilding these transmissions.

I believe the 97 SE has a 4t65e trans, the SSEi has a 4t65e-hd trans.

Hey guys...


4T60E 92-96 Supercharged 3.8L
4T65E 97-03 Supercharged 3.8L
4T60E 92-97 Naturally Aspriated 3.8L
4T65E 98-05 Naturally Aspriated 3.8L

I didn't denote HD vs regular due to the small differences and the relevancy to the topic. Keep in mind that both transmissions had updates and changes from year to year that may keep them from being fully interchangeable. Mounting is identical, to the untrained person, the 4T60 and 4T65 could be mistaken for each other. Easy way to tell them apart is the 4T60 has the electrical connector on the front of the trans vs the 4T65 on the side and the 4T60 has a vacuum modulator below the electrical connection.

As for putting a 65 in a 97 SE, I've done that swap. The only differences are adding 5 wires from the trans to the pcm, swapping the trans connector and reprogramming the pcm. All trans mounts etc are in the same places for location etc.

Thanks for the info. My man concern is swapping units and having gear ratio codes show up.

I had a feeling that they may bolt in, but I didn't know for sure.
Personally, I'd rather have the 60 over the 65.

Man what a mess! So now I don't even know if I have the same trans? Sounds like I've gotten in over my head. So the 60 & 65 are NOT as interchangeable as I was led to believe? I'm really confused now!

Its not that bad, 5 wires and a reprogrammed PCM just having someone that knows what they are doing is the important part