Hey Team

My 97 Olds 88 W/114k is starting to fail

Last night, getting off the interstate, while almost stopped, the transmission did not seem to shift down correctly with a little harsh shift when it finnally dropped down...enough I noticed it

So I pulled it down into 1st... and began to take off, to my surprise, I've got a roar comming from transmission... so I manually bump into 2nd... roar is gone.. i stop, and try it again, drop manually into 1st... yup... the roar is still there...ok, beginning to worry..

I place it back into drive.... seems everything'* ok, from dead stop, in D take off.. all is well, no roar, shifts fine, through all gears, and back down

I emailed my brother... so today, he stopped by to hear it also

we took it out, and sure enough, pull it into 1st, ROAR...place back into Drive
and not any issues, but I noticing, somethings not right

we decide to pull out some fluid, suck out 5 qts tranny fluid, and put new in, and decided to put a new vacuum modulator, since its 20 years old

Modulator sure stiffened up the shifts... but roar noise is still there , but now, you dont need to shift it down into 1st manually, and its apparent in 2nd gear, and even reverse

if you place the tranny into neutral... perfectly quiet, rev engine.. still quiet

so we drive around a bit more, in D, we notice, in 4th, lock up, it seems to wanna try to shift outa lockup.. but does not, a constant fishbite, feeling

we drove around 40 min/// now when stopping now, it will randomly not shift down into 1st anymore, even if you manually shift into 1st its actually in 2nd

2, 3 are fine, and R works, no slipping

nothing we can do with it tonight, so, I am driving home, i stop at a light, and take off, its stuck in 2nd (in D).. and finnally shifts into 3

I get on the interstate, and find it is now stuck in 3rd, and will not go into 4th... so crusing at 65.. i shift into N, and drop back into D, thinking it would go into 4th.. it did not... it was as if it was still in N... no pull...not slipping

so I coast off to the berm....shift to park, and back to D.. nothing, to 1st, nothing... 2nd, and I'm moving again... and away I go.. shift into 3... ok, and then D.. and stays in 3rd

So, in the matter of hours, no 1st, no 4th, Roar noise, (2, 3 and R work)

strange .. when we first heard the roar in M1.. sitting still, you can m2 and the roar would disappear.. and the car has not moved


ok, so, whats going on here, I know the transmission is ok, but something not working

why did this degrade so fast

do I have solenoids that are bad? Gear selector switch malfunction? computer fail?

If I need to pull the side cover on tranny, replace solenoids, which ones?, Diagram? and if I do this, I've heard there is a update/or do something to open flow in valve body? whats involved?


any info is appreciated

NO CEL or codes

4T60E automatic transmission

I think those transmissions default starting out in 3rd gear if the entire trans loses electrical power. This is something that'* not easily diagnosed here on the forum. A trans shop is your next stop.
BTW, most if not all trans codes will not illuminate the CEL. Hook a scanner up to it anyway and check for any codes.

I did hook up scanner, just to check for codes... even tho no CEL

last spring, we did do a trans/filter change, and added lucas additive, but the sediments were minimal and fluid ok

I've had the car since 41k

Still driving... once in a while, when cold, it might shift into 1st, ( while in Drive )

but after a few stop signs, its only has 2-3 and does not go into 4th, reverse ok

not really any noise

I did purchase the 3 shift Solenoids and TCC, with side pan gaskets

plan on dropping side down and pull pan in a few days

not looking to be an easy task at all,

going to trans shop will far exceed value of car, its a outstanding rust free car, just no value, so, trying to find a home fix and parts only type of thing


any help greatly appreciated

hello gm crew

I was hope that a few people would have chimed in on this topic, but its ok

the olds is back up and running/shifting correctly after a full day of work

removed transmission side cover, replaced all Solenoids, including TCC PWM

new pan gaskets, reinstalled everything, and fired up... all gears work!

but still have roar...

dropped filter/pan and installed new filter, cleaned sediments out..
replaced gasket/pan, refilled fluid, and started.. no more roar!

reset computer, unhook battery, turn key to on position, touch unhooked battery cables together to clear computer/learn info

reconnected and out on road test

the transmission has NEVER..EVER performed this nice before, shifts smooth, when it should, as it should, no more harsh shifts, easy into lockup, will come out of lockup fine now.. just unbelievable

no more fishbite chuggle going up interstate hills

last spring, we changed the filter, and put in a quart of the lucas transmission conditioner,.. apparently, the lucas acted as a cleaner, and flushed/cleaned all the varnish, dirt, wear, etc and plugged up the filter ...that was installed in spring

Solenoids were 20 years old, tcc solenoid tested bad, replaced it and the other 3 since pan was off

happy turn out when expecting the worse

Still have roar. I didn't want to say this earlier due to I wasn't sure what you meant by roar, but going by the work you did, I know what that roar is. It'* pump starvation due to a clogged filter. Not because of dirt, but because of clutch material. A LOT of it. You are now on borrowed time. Most people that do a trans flush and put new fluid in on a high mileage trans have come back saying their trans is slipping all the time. You may or may not experience this.


You have a 97, PCM'* store all pending/stored codes, fuel trim data, shift data etc in non-volatile flash memory. Simply unplugging, shorting the battery cables together will not reset, clear, purge or expunge any data from memory. It takes a scanner to clear all learned data.

Keep us posted please.

yes, I know could be on barrowed time, but sure running slick

as far as clutch fibers, plugging up filter, I'd say so too... and with what ever was cleaned out with lucas additive

what was in bottom of pan was minimal

hope for the best.. time will tell

roar is gone.. filter was clogged with debris, replaced