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Need Help, Info, Ideas ----> I gave up after #4 Trans change

2K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  redfury 
#1 ·
HI All

first of all....let me explain my self :lol:
My Biggest problem honestly is that I just love this Van :mrgreen: , it is the best there is and I would not want to Sell it or Scrap it yet but.....
after My Safari broke the 4th transmission (in a Row costing me more what it is worth) I am beat down giving up with Auto Trans (I would not dive into what happened because it is very frustrating what happened with me only if some one insist on it :cry: )

My Question is: How hard is it to Convert it to a Manual???? and is it possible? I do believe Manual is the best choice

My Safari is a 1997 2wd 4.3 Stock <-- and it is not a US spec car so not even OBD works on this, no check engine light or what so ever. it is a GCC spec

I really want this car to work again, so please if you have any idea for an Alternative to the 4l60 trans I would want to hear it.

i would like to hear any input please for a way to solve this problem i have had with this car since 4 years now
 
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#2 ·
It is tough rounding up compatible clutch parts. But it can be done.

Put a turbo 400 auto trans. Very easy swap. It is not a overdrive transmission but. With a 6 banger you would be my hero if you tore that up. You could rev it to the moon and drop it into gear at every light. You would break the van before that tranny ever thought of breaking.
 
#3 ·
3esso said:
after My Safari broke the 4th transmission (in a Row costing me more what it is worth))

My Question is: How hard is it to Convert it to a Manual???? and is it possible? I do believe Manual is the best choice

My Safari is a 1997 2wd 4.3 Stock <-- and it is not a US spec car so not even OBD works on this, no check engine light or what so ever. it is a GCC spec

I really want this car to work again, so please if you have any idea for an Alternative to the 4l60 trans I would want to hear it.

i would like to hear any input please for a way to solve this problem i have had with this car since 4 years now
Broke 4 transmissions? HOW?
That be the 1st thing to investigate as the 4L60E is very durable ,,,were you buying junkyard transmissions ? Having a transmission rebuilt by a quality shop with warranty should be the solution

4L65E is a beefier stronger version replacement for the 4L60E with stronger internal parts

OBD2 is world wide .. I believe GCC is just a European spec of OBD2
What is the VIN# of your van and we can get more specifics

converting to manual can be done for a price , but it should not be necessary just to have a working transmission
 
#5 ·
paintdrying said:
Would a turbo 400 work in the astro? That is the best transmission ever made. And real smooth as well
Yes.... it will but it not a simple swap as there is more involved than taking one out and putting the other in ,, if it was simple it would be a popular swap and it's not ,, especially for OBD2 vehicles
turbo 400 takes more power to drive , meant for higher power and higher torque output engines ,
 
#6 ·
I'm also interested in how 3esso went through 3 transmissions. Grumpy is the same model year and I didn't swap out the transmission till 333k miles.
 
#8 ·
Grumpy's transmission was slipping when I bought it and the overdrive wasn't functioning. Replacing one of the shift solenoids brought back overdrive and Lucas Transmission Fix helped the slipping for a while. Decided to swap the transmission when the van started getting better mileage in 3rd than overdrive.
 
#9 ·
Sorry all for the late reply (working for big corps turned to be a nightmare :cry: I Hate overtime)

back to how did our Safari screw 4 transmissions :?

well we bought this car Brand new from the dealer, and it ran good for 2 and half years under warranty :mrgreen:

so in 2001 the first time we got an issue was 1st-2nd hard shifting problem, weirdly this happens only after you drive around 15-20 miles, MORE weirdly this problem seems to go just be switching off the engine for 10 or so seconds and starting up again like nothing happend, of course you would have to do this every 15 miles or just ignore the very hard shift and drive away or (and this is how we used it for a long long time) at the traffic lights just drive off in 2nd gear then go back to D

this continued on from 2001 until 2009 while on a 250 miles road trip the car developed a new issue; it will still do the same thing as above for sure :D , but if driven further at this point the car just get out of Over Drive and continues in 3rd, EVEN MORE weirdly this new issue also goes away just by switching the car of momentarily and again the car goes back to normal like nothing happened :|

so in the year 2010 this weird acting transmission was at the end of it life, with weird sounds and when it was in D the car would rev up first then the drive comes, so I went to a Mechanic who was recommended by my cousin (this mechanic has a Drag Racing team and they run Chevy Camaro's and FireBirds and most GM V8s)

so I changed the transmission there and he got me a Used one form a Totaled truck with 2 months shop warranty,

this time the issues were a bit different: like when in D the car put too much driving force that you really have to step on the brake hard at traffic lights, and the car has poor acceleration and would not downshift properly on highway driving and not get faster quick enough when I give it more gas,
so a month went and i took it and i told him something was not right here, but he insisted that this is normal, but less than 2 months the transmission has grind it self from the inside, (this is #2)

took it back to him and he tries to say it is my fault that I abused this trans (here I understood I was dealing with a Nasty Guy :( )

so after long discussion he put a new one in the car(free of charge), and it is the same issue again, and I took it back to him, and he said he would change it to a used Trans he got from a Working Truck that was to be scrapped,

now this One acted just like the First one ( the #1 ) but also this has ground it self from the inside (the 3 small gears called sun Gears were totally grounded) this one actually made it past 2 months ( so this is #3)

I got a bit desperate here and asked around for any other mechanic, but most I found who work on GM cars had bad reputation or do not seem honest people, after a while I spoke to one who seems to know what he say and out of frustration I agreed to change it again with him and he said it could be a problem with the cooler line inside the radiation that might be blocked from the previous transmissions

this one actually lasted the longest of the replacements (perhaps due to the fact that we started to avoid using the car fearing it will bite another 4L60 :| ) and I started using it in 2011 and two months before it broke again, the transmission started acting like the first one again (i.e hard shifting 1-2) that until it broke on me while driving on a highway

and the sound that I became familiar with the the sound of damaged internal parts :cry:

this is how ours ate 4 4L60 transmissions :ty:
 
#10 ·
as for the 4L60 being a reliable unit, well I agree and dont agree at the same time

the fact that we used the first one for more than 5 years with that problem which was nobody knows about (not even the dealer)

we even went on many road trips with the first one only when it started to jump from Over-Drive this made it hard to travel with it

and Guys thanks For the Inputs so Far,
 
#11 ·
further more guys

after the last trans fail, I went and asked around again and again explanning to those people what happens and how it happens

the best answer I got so far was that I might have a bad ECM or a Bad Wiring harness

this really moved me closer to a dead end, because in addition of getting a new rebuilt trans, i would need a wiring harness and an EMC

this really past the market value of this van, but i still dont want to take it to the scrappy
 
#12 ·
Granted, my van is older but I use a 700R4 out of my old 89 Firebird Formula. Direct bolt on and since its a stronger unit, a good upgrade. The newer F-bodies use an electric 4L60E and the V8 models will handle all of the torque you have. I can't personally say that its a direct bolton but maybe something worth looking into.

I'm assuming that you have a 4L60E (electric version) as opposed to a 4L60(700R4 non-electric).

Please, before you go swapping out parts like an ECM or wiring harness, it needs to be tested first. If your ECM or harness was bad, all of the transmissions would have had the same problem.

And maybe its just me but your #2 and #3 problems sound like a vacuum leak.
 
#13 ·
Hi 3esso

Hmm, no, something is right out in left field here 3esso for sure.

Are you buying these transmissions from the same person/shop?

Are you running "factory Spec." transmission fluid where you live?

Are the transmission lines hooked up properly at the radiator (not reversed) ?

Have you looked at the transmission fluid "carefully" after each failure?

Was their "any" signs or smell of anti-freeze in the transmission fluid?

The transmission lines could very well be plugged or restricting the proper flow needed.

I'm on my first transmission here 3esso, so something isn't right with your vehicle. This problem you have needs to be found and fixed before putting another transmission in it and burning it out again.

As for Standard Transmissions and Turbo 400s, my suggestion here is to keep things simple, both options will be a nightmare to change over to (really). Keep the headaches down to a minimum here and find the "original" problem causing these pre-mature burn outs.

Another thing to be aware of here 3esso which I found out the hard way doing a simple fluid change, is to make sure you install the "Shift Cable" linkage back on to the transmission the right way.

I was tired that night and installed it backwards, when I fired it up to cycle through the gears, the van took on a whole different personality here. It lunged forward, hard to move in any gear and hard to stop. It was binding in between gears as I shifted and and a "bang" when I went into reverse.

It took me 20 - minutes to find out what I had done wrong, and I was relieved that that's all it was. I thought for sure I just dropped the transmission and I was preparing to pull it that night, that's how bad it reacted to just having that "Shift Cable" linkage on backwards.

The hard 1-2 shift is very common with the 4L6oEs and is an easy fix "in the right hands" mine did this as well at 175,000 kilometers and was fixed. The only repair I have had done on my current and original transmission.

Find the source of this problem, fix it, and drop another 4L60E in it would be my suggestion here. A lot less headaches than the other 2 options discussed here that's for sure.

Just my take on your current problem 3esso, please keep us updated, thanks.:)
 
#14 ·
Matrixx had a interesting point. Something wrong. These trans are notoriously weak but our vans dont have enough power to hurt them. They should last forever if your not raw hiding them.

All of yours were used. And a trans from a truck going to a junk yard. Probably wasn't treated real well. It worked good, they know because they all took turns testing it in the back parking lot.

Anyway.... My 90's radiator had a leak from the coolant to the trans cooler. But all it did was smoke it's clutches.

Sound like before you got them old Judge Dredd was putting the hurt-lock on them. Sunshells die from towing, Heavy power applied. V-8 type power. Burn outs yada yada.
 
#15 ·
chevymaher also brings up some great points to consider as well 3esso.

With my vehicle, I don't Tow (transmission cooler is a must if you do) and I don't Banshi.

If I needed a transmission, I would get as much detail of the vehicle it's coming out of (mileage, condition, etc,).
When the transmission arrives (if I was to order one) i would look and smell the transmission fluid and maybe pull the pan to look at any (or the amount and type) of filings in the bottom of the pan.

The filings in the pan is like a CSI of where the transmission is at in it's life cycle. Light smooth filings around the magnet is normal, anything larger than that (small Bits and Pieces) would be cause for concern.

Please keep us updated 3esso, thanks.:)
 
#16 ·
I'd have to believe that you have something going on that killed the original transmission. Here's the problem with changing parts. You need to find out why the first transmission died the way that it did. These are electronically controlled transmissions and can only react to the input given to them. If the van will still run, you might want to bring it to a shop and have them run a scan tool diagnosis on it, or bring it to a tranny shop that can do thte same thing. You can command shift points and harshness and see if there are problems with the communications with the transmission with a proper scan tool. I find it hard to believe that 3 transmissions all have the same problems.
 
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