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Hard shift 1st to 2nd and no reverse (3rd tranny)

2K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  WeirdsvilleRecords 
#1 ·
I desperatly need some help and am getting no straight answers from so called transmission experts. I bought a 2002 AWD Astro van in january of this year. When I purchased the van the transmission was bad so I purchased a used transmission with 70,000 miles on it and installed it in the van. In doing so I pulled the pan and replaced the filter and put new fluid in the transmission. There was no metal or anything in the pan when I pulled off the pan. Everything was clean. I drove the van about a thousand miles or so and was on my way back from a weekend out of state. I was on the interstate and was going about 65 mph and felt a jerk and a bang. The van kept going and didnt slow down so I stopped at the next rest stop and checked underneath and everything seemed fine until I tried to leave and I had no reverse. I was able to get the van home but it shifted hard fro 1st to 2nd and no reverse. The transmission had a 90 day warranty so I was able to get another at no cost so again I replace the transmission. I did the same as the other and replaced the filter and fluid and again the pan was clean of debris and the fluid was clean. Two weeks ago after maybe 600 miles on this transmission I was coming down the turnpike doing about 60 or so and the same thing accured again. Now after this long story my question is. Is there something else going on that is trashing these transmission such as transfer case issue or ?. The vans seem to be fine and all of the sudden the tranny goes. I am talking to a transmission shop that is just saying that the transmissions I got were junk. Thats easy to say but I think it is a big coincidence that they both did the same thing. I am looking at having the transmission rebuilt but I would like some input before I spend $1600 to have it rebuilt and then find out it was something else causing the failure of these transmissions. Thank You for any help you can give.
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like your breaking the sunshell gear. And no nothing your van is doing would cause it. It is the weak link in these trans. It just sounds like you been getting a hold of trans that were hot rodded. Hard shifting to second with traction. If you rebuild one just make sure they put in a beast sunshell gear.
 
#3 ·
Couldn't a bind or drag in the transfer case cause this too? The sun shell would have no idea if it's 2WD or AWD, just that it's getting beat on.

Don't feel too badly, I have the transmission that was in my van sitting in the garage waiting to get some attention. It has a bad sun shell too. Reverse went out, and if it was warmed up drive was gone too.
 
#4 ·
If you are doing the transmission R&R yourself, I'd seriously look into rebuilding the transmission yourself. Look on Youtube for videos on rebuilding the 4l60e. It's not nearly as difficult as it might seem, and with a few views of the videos online, you'll likely say like I did "that doesn't look nearly as complicated as I thought it would be!" If you could stack those little colored plastic donuts on the cone as an infant, you can probably figure out how to reassemble this transmission.
 
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