last winter my trans started acting up. when i put it in gear it would just sit there for several seconds before it would kick into gear. didnt matter if it was in drive or reverse. really only did it if it was cold outside, so i changed the fluid/filter which helped a little. worked great all summer but now guess what. its winter again. so it started doing it again a few weeks ago for just a few days. left one morning to go over to my moms house, didnt wanna go in gear of course, then on my way over there the trans would slip into second. im almost there, driving steadily at about 40 and then the engine just revs up and then drops back down into gear. uh oh. i get to my moms, sit there for a couple hours, go to leave, put it in gear and it wont move....at all! waited for a few seconds for it to go in gear. nothing! reved it to 5500 and it barely crept forward. so i leave the car there and drove my other car home. go back about a week later, start it, put it in gear, jumps forward like nothings wrong! wtf?? drove it around the block and its still slippin into second. so its still sitting and has been for 3 weeks now. im guessing the tranny is completely gone, am i right? i thought it was weird that it hesitated to go in gear, while in drive or in reverse either one. and of course all the local yards want $350 for a used trans for this car!

I had a 92 Olds 88 that had the exact same problem. The problem only showed up if it were real cold outside. You put it into gear, and nothing! I let the car warm up for 5 mins, and then it would go into gear like there was nothing wrong with the transmission. It would shift perfect too! The problem was in the valve body of the transmission. I took the transmission out myself and rebult it and put it back in and did the same thing. It turn out that there was a valve that would stick in the valve body. I found a core transmission and took the valve body out of that one and reinstalled the transmission and didn't have any problem with the transmission after that.

JR

awesome! maybe ill just drop a valve body out a tranny at the u-pull-it. hope that fixes it. thanks man!

That'* a pretty big undertaking despite the fact that it'* not a sure bet. It very well could be the valve body, but it might not be.

Usual warnings apply:

1. Seek a professional opinion before diagnosing transmissions.
2. Don't attempt FWD transaxle internal work unless you've done it before....a few times.
3. Never shotgun a problem because someone else had that problem once, and fixed it in one particular way. There are other things that can do this.

That being said, I'd say the valve body is the most likely, but it'* certainly not for sure at this point.

well i can prolly get a valve body from u-pull-it for 20 bux or less. ive not messed with FWD trans much, but usually u just drop the pan and the valve body is right there. is it different on a FWD car? it may not be the problem but for 20 bux plus fluid and filter id say its worth a shot. better than paying 350 for a used trans and doing ALOT more work. if its not the valve body i think the car will go up for sale. i really appreciate all the help guys. is there really much of a difference in changing the valve body in this as opposed to a TH350?

no i havent. the check engine light has never came on in this car since ive had it and ive put 30k on it. im not sure it even works.

You can still have does regardless of SES light condition, and you can diagnose alot more with streaming data than with code reading. Diagnose the actual problem before buying anything.