Hello all,

I had a issue this week-end while heading to guards. I noticed while driving down the interstate my tach was at about 3 grand (70mph), cause it normally runs at about 1800. This made me a little paranoid, so I slowed down and when I let off the gas pedal the rpms dropped but as soon as I got back on the pedal they jumped right back up to where they were. I manually shifted it from "D" to "3", and there was no change in the rpms nor did I feel any shift in the trans.

When I got home this evening I dropped the tranny pan and changed the filter and fluid. Buttoned everything up topped with fluid, and test drove, still doing the same thing. HELP, I'm not sure what the prob is. The car has 162K. THANK YOU!!!!!

hate to say it but it sounds like you dropped 4th gear. there is a shaft in there that is weak for 4th gear and its a somewhat common problem that they break for no reason. I would take it to a mechanic for diagnosis and before risking messing up more in the transmission.

there is a slight chance that maybe your shifter cable is out of adjustment, too.

Sure doesn't sound good. Let'* keep our fingers crossed for shifter cable out of adjustment.
Mike

Is there a solenoid or something in the tranny that controls this, or maybe has something to do with this issue?

There are two shifting soleniods. If one goes bad, usually you have symptoms on two gears.

Most likely it is the 4th gear clutch hub like mentioned above. GM didn't use a hardened unit until 2003+. If the trans has never been rebuilt 162K is good mileage on that shaft.

Other things won't go bad because of the shaft. The only downside is having a 3 speed instead of a 4.