I have a 95 SE that'* got a bad tranny and was wondering if i could only put in a used tranny from a 95 SE or if I could use a tranny from a 96 97, or whatever year, SE model. Any help would be great.

you are stuck with a trans from 95 only. Bill Buttermore did a trans swap on his 95 and went through hell with trying to get one. he is your man to talk to

It might be best to get your current tranny rebuilt instead of trying to hunt down a good used one.

The guys are correct, you need the same 4 digit alphanumeric code for your trans, which will likely be one-year specific. My 1997 4T60E "7ASW" was a one-year specific transmission. It uses pulse-width modulated TCC lockup, among other things which would make it very not-compatible with other year 4T60E'*. It shouldn't be hard to find a trans, check out www.car-part.com I located a 31,000 mile trans for $375, and it drives flawlessly. These transmissions legendarilly suck! I have never seen a particular model car that had this many trans problems. Thanks goodness old people crash their H bodies into things at low mileage (leaves low mileage parts for me!)

Yep, 1997 LeSabre said it right. I was told by lots of people that the only trans that would work properly would be from a '95 Bonneville. I don't know if other transaxles might work OK too, but if you are gonna pay the money and/or do the work, do you want to take a chance that the replacement trans will not work quite right for you?

My advice is the same as his: Check the ID tag on your trans. It will have a bunch of numbers on the left side arranged vertically. Mine reads (from top to bottom) 615BXW W40T4 On the right side of the tag will be two big characters, on mine: BX. The important characters to match for your car are: "5BXW" 5 is your model year, 1995, BX is the model of the transmission and W is the type. If you match those numbers, you should have no compatibility problems.

[edit: Your numbers may not be the same as mine if your trans has a different gear ratio. I am not sure of this, but there may also be differences for other trans-related features like traction control.]

Be careful! People may try to sell you a trans that does not match. It happened to me.

Well my mechanic got what he was told was a tranny from a 95 bonnie and had one of his workers put it in mine. So they put it all together and when they tested it there were all kinds of problems, turns out they guy gave them a tranny from a 94 bonnie(the guy who sold it to them had to eat the bill). It'll drive for a few miles but doesn't get into 3rd gear. So from what my mechanic said and from whay you all have posted only a 95 fw2 tranny will work for my car.

yes 95 is a weird year, you are stuck with finding a trans from a 95

The ID tag is located on the rear of the transaxle case on the passenger'* side. You may have to wipe off the tag with some WD-40 and a rag to be able to read it. Here is what you are looking for:



After I was sold the wrong trans, I would ask prospective sellers if they had a good trans from a '95 Bonneville with the FW2 gear option. (FW2 is the RPO code for a 3.06 transmission final gear ratio that is included among many other codes on the tag glued to your spare tire cover in the trunk) If they said yes, I would ask them to read the ID tag information off their trans without telling them mine. When it matched, I knew I would have no compatibility issues.

and that'* the key - for the love of God, don't tell them your tag before you ask them theirs...

jr3800, my replacement trans came from a 1997 Olds 88, which also has the same 7ASW 4T60E as a 1997 Bonneville n/a. There'* no difference in durability from a Buick/Olds/Pontiac on the parts they share. In the case of the transmission (and just about all of the steering, suspension, engine, exhaust), it'* the same part #* across the H body platform. I don't think your 95 has the pulsewidth modulated TCC lockup (which GM set up to make smoother engagement of the TCC. It basically induces controlled slippage during lock and unlock so you don't feel the engagement. This also makes the TCC a very weak point of my 1997 model year 4T60E. ) THAT is why your transmission is still in one piece.