97 Chevy 4x4 transmission

[miketx]

Got a bad deal here. Mike (the guy that I work with) did a trade deal for painting his truck and he had to install a used trans supplied by the truck owner in this 97 Chevy. He got it in and all it had was third and reverse, which almost always means there is an electronic problem. So calls me out to look at it and it has no diagnostic trouble codes whatsoever which is really strange. I pulled the pan off and it's got power to all the solenoids and all the solenoids check good. No fuses blown, no bad grounds, etc.

So Mike pulls the trans out and I find a broken sun gear shell in the trans and a few burnt clutches, which would NOT cause this problem of stuck in third. So I fix the trans and he puts it back in and this morning, it's the same! I go drive it and it's starting off in overdrive, then shifts to third, then second and then just starts revving up like the 3-4 clutch is fried but it's not, I replaced it. Besides if it was fried it would not have 3rd or 4th. It's almost like some wires are switched grounding the wrong solenoids to make it work like this. Now I have NEVER seen of these 4l60 transmission behave like this. Ever. The truck is a pile of rust, it has wires hanging down everywhere, no oxygen sensors on what remains of the exhaust system. Mike had another computer and we out it on and no difference.

So today we start looking for wiring problems and the bed nearly falls off it because of the rust it has! POS! I find one PCM ground does not have continuity between the computer and where it's grounded to the motor and that now the range sensor has stopped working. So we have decided to stop as this wasn't part of the deal. This truck is basically scrap and the owner of it decided he just wants us to dismantle the whole thing and give him the motor and trans and we'll cut up the rest of it after taking off anything that is usable. The guy didn't want to pay us anymore to track down what ever the hell is wrong with this thing and I was pleased! And so was Mike. He stopped stopped cussing and kicking shit!

But seriously I have NEVER seen one do this and I have worked on a countless number of these with varying problems. Can't wait to cut it up!

 

[Rambunctious]

Its alive...kill it!

 

[miketx]

I forgot, it did have a historical trouble code for "Input Speed Sensor out of range". Damn! Gm didn't put an input speed sensor in this trans until 2007 or 2008! IIRC. It's freaking haunted!

Plus, we disconnected the wiring harness from the trans and that should have set multiple trouble codes but there were still none!

 

[Rambunctious]

I have a carburetor on a 1987 454 that needs a good exorcism...

 

[miketx]

I have a carburetor on a 1987 454 that needs a good exorcism...

400 turbo....

 

[Rambunctious]

400 turbo....

Its a good transmission....

 

[Tom Horn]

My '85 F-150 kept losing ignition modules and they ain't cheap and I couldn't do the wiring so it was costing me an arm and a foot. My mechanic finally told me he couldn't fix it and jobbed it out. The garage he sent it to found the problem immediately. When the new engine (short block from NAPA) got stabbed in, part of the wiring harness got caught under a motor-mount. So the modules absorbed as many little shorts as they could before they failed. So they lifted the engine up off the mount, and spliced in a new harness. No ignition failures since although I almost backed over somebody outside the grocery store because my backup lights don't work. Bad rear seal and valve-cover gaskets too...typical Ford. Just put a new clutch in it and the pedal had almost no resistance.....never had that happen before but I accepted the truck and Googled "new clutch, soft pedal" and I guess it's fairly common....it's stiffened up considerably in the last couple weeks . The engine is strong, power windows, even cruise-control in a 4 speed 4x4. Best truck I ever had...never has stranded me in a place I couldn't get off the road or home. Once the drive shaft broke just as I was pulling in my driveway. I've had two dead batteries in the last 8 years...both times at the post office next door to my auto parts store. That's the way it's been for 19 years....his name is "Goat" and I will never sell him.

 

[miketx]

Hey Tom Horn, the Op is all true. Some of these old piles of junk get all kinds of things wrong!

 

[Tom Horn]

Hey Tom Horn, the Op is all true. Some of these old piles of junk get all kinds of things wrong!

Oh I know....ever heard of an "actuating rod" from the ignition to the starter? I did figure out I could use a screwdriver blade to cross the solenoid to the battery + to start it and get it to my wrench. He told me what it was and I thought it was a joke....$200 floated out of my wallet on that one. Since '85 parts are getting harder to find, I'm really driving a 4x3 since they trashed the real axle trying to get a frozen wheel bearing off and could only find a right rear wheel drive. That's a secret I will never reveal if all goes wrong and I should have to sell the Goat. Thing is I been in some wrecks and don't want an air bag exploding in my face when I still got some steering to do. And the plates and insurance cost almost nothing. It gets maybe 9 MPG but I don't commute with it....got a company car. It's my cactus jumper and as long as it gets me places a Honda Civic dares not tread, we're good.