I was driving home on the highway, doing about 140 km while passing another car, and when I pulled back into traffic, and slowed back down, my rpm'* shot up to about 5500. I had to limp the last 100 km home in second gear at 70km/h. Any ideas?

Sounds like your torque converter. Got a SES light? You need to get the car scanned.

no lights or anything, there'* no indication of a problem other than it won't go beyond second gear.

Pontiac dealership sez torque converter $1233.15. Oh, and by the way, don't you think that the guy answering the phone at a Pontiac service dept should know what an L36 is?

Did you just price the work, or did they diagnose it?

No, that'* just the price for a suspected torque converter. They can't get it in for a couple of days. The service dude says that there will be no codes if the engine light isn't on, so there'* no point in scanning it. The guy at the tranny shop that is going to look at it tomorrow morning says that'* BS, that you MUST drive it with the scanner hooked up to start properly diagnosing the problem, especially since it started working properly again.(Oh, yea. After sitting in the driveway for half an hour, I took it for a drive to the dealership, and it worked fine.)

The dealer cost on that converter is about $70.

The service dude is either an idiot, or simply ignorant. Your tranny guy is right. Granted a TC problem SHOULD set a light, but weirder things can happen. History codes can tell a story as well. The car MUST be scanned for codes, and if the problem isn't immediately apparent, it MUST be driven with the scantool attached.

Keep us informed on this one.

I had the exact same problem happen on my 94 SE. Passed a car, Rpms went up to 4K and never came down (although I think I was stuck in 3rd gear instead of 2nd). Later that day the tranny started working ok. Next day same thing (and this was after a complete flush and service by Firestone) . Suspected a sticking solenoid. Added 1/2 of a bottle of Lucas Transmission Additive and have not seen the problem in 2K miles. Might be worth trying....
Rob

Ok. It goes something like this.
The scantool history showed a range sensor fault. When they dropped the pan, there was a bunch of metal filings and pieces. I gave them the go-ahead to do a rebuild, and when I stopped by about an hour ago, the mechanic was just starting to take the guts out. It was obvious what the problem was when he took it apart. One piece that he called the "stovepipe" and another that he called the "cookie-cutter" were badly worn. (The "stovepipe" actually looks like a stovepipe or a dryer duct and the "cookie-cutter" I suppose looks like one, but it has a long shaft with a male spline on it). The diff has some play in the outer gears, which he says will get worse and make the car "clunk" when you put it in gear, so that will have to be replaced.
I'm getting them to put in a shift kit, and they already put in a better TC on their rebuilds, but I wish I had time to get a better diff for them to put in.
Should be about $2500.

Well its a good thing the fryingpan didn't go out cause that'll usually take the waffleiron with it.