why why why freaking why

[1iwilly]

hello to all
ok on thursday 5-21-09 i was driving from CT to back home to orlando florida
when i was half way in to virginia we stop at a rest area so the family could stretch and use the rest room
after we were ready to hit the road again i put the shifter in reverse but there is no more reverse just like that
well i made it back home on a wing&prayer.
i have a 1997 awd ls how can i tell which tranny i have?? and is there an upgrade to this kind of problem.???
thanks

[Big_kid]

I'm not sure what to tell you there.
I would suggest though that if you need to pull the tranny, plan on a complete rebuild while it's out. There's no sense in replacing half the parts when they all have the same number of miles on them.

A similar thing happened to us back in '84. We went from Port Richey to Long Island for a wedding. When we left for home, 2nd gear was gone(turbo 250 tranny, 77 Impala). I thought my dad was going to throw a rod the way he drove it. I tried to drive as much as possible. I'd wind 1st gear up pretty high, then let off completely. After a few seconds, third would engage.

[gwd]

Have you ever changed the tranny oil and filter in the van's life? Mine lasted over 235,000 miles before I had to scrape the van due to rust.
Never touched the tranny except changed the oil and fillter every 50k or so. It also had a factory oil cooler on top of the rad cooler.

[Leeann_93]

You have a 4L60E.

Is it just reverse that you've lost? All other gears work?

[1iwilly]

You have a 4L60E.

Is it just reverse that you've lost? All other gears work?

i just bought this van in feb of this year i'm the 3rd owner
1,2 are fine for third i have to kind of wind it up a little then let go of the gas then hit the gas and it goesn into
final drive but at times while driving it kind of sputters.

[ihatemybike]

Definitely sounds like rebuild time and yes these vans are worth it.

Where are you located? There's a guy near me that will rebuild it for $600 if you do the removal and installation.