Hi guys. I just wanted to find out if there is something wrong with the tranny in my caddy. Its an '87 d'Elegance 307 with 212,000 kms. Anyway, the problem is that after I take it out on the highway for 20 minutes or half an hour or something it acts up when I slow down. When I get on the off ramp the car hitches pretty bad when I get down to abotu 20 km/h. Also, when I accelerate again, it chuggs really bad right when its shifting gears. It does this all the way up to cruising speed. Normally its fine in town when I don't get up to high speed. Also, I'm not sure if this is related, but if I stomp on from a dead stop the tires won't spin or anything. In fact, it doesn't accelerate hard at all. Same thing on the highway, there is almost no passing gear at all. Any input would help. Thanks.

come on guys, little help here, please?

It doesn't sound good. Of course, you can always hope for a band adjustment, modulator, or transmission fluid/filter change to help things out.

Good luck!!

thanks tenmark. I checked the tranny fluid already and it was full. I don't know anything about transmissions except that they cost a sh*tload to fix. Would it be cheaper to have a garage try to fix it or just replace it?

thanks tenmark. I checked the tranny fluid already and it was full. I don't know anything about transmissions except that they cost a sh*tload to fix. Would it be cheaper to have a garage try to fix it or just replace it?
How does the fluid look? it should be a nice pinkish red color and it should not smell burnt it should have that tranny fluid smell to it.

Try chaniging the fluid, filter, and pan gasket, while down there look in the bottom of the pan when the fluid is drained for any large metal particles (if there's a magnet in yours leave it there, but clean it and see how much stuff is on it.). If that does not do the trick then...You are having similar symptoms to my car before the tranny rebuild.

It cost me about $800 for a rebuild w/ tourque converter and a 6/6 warrenty. The trans in my '85 Fleetwood Brougham is the 200-4r so yours may have the same tranny if it's not the 200-4r it's probablly the 700-r4. If its a 700-r4 it should cost about the same. Good luck with your Brougham.

It sounds like the torque converter lockup is sticking.On the drivers side of the tranny is a square plug.Try pulling it,if the problem disappears you need a lockup solenoid.Don't panic though,it is no big deal to replace.

I would try the cheap approach first as mentioned above......Change the filter first....Do it yourself for less then $20.00...

thanks for that torque converter tip, bargemaster. I'm going to try and check it out tommorow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

did that torque converter thing work neon boy, i am having the same problem on my 81 fleetwood v4-6-8

actually, to tell the truth, I never got around to checking it out. I wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't know if I was supposed to pull out the plug and drive the car or what. I sort of figured it wouldn't work anyway without the plug or it wouldn't be there in the first place. So Barge Master, if you're reading this, could you maybe give me a few more details on the procedure. Thanks.

Just unplug it and drive, my car had the same problem.

That about sums it up, pull the plug and drive it. The only risk with leaving it like that permanently is that when you are in overdrive,the gearing is so high the converter is unable to reach a state of lockup on its own because it is spinning so slowly. This tends to create heat, which shortens its life. I've been driving my car around like that for a year now though and it hasn't cooked it yet. Anyhow, the part can be changed easily by just dropping the pan. Maybe one day I'll get to fix my own car for a change. Doctors children are always the sickest.

i tried that unplug on mine 81 fleet, it didnt't solve my problem, but it did run just like before (really crappy) so it is safe to unplug it, but now im guessing my problem is more of a fuel delivery, my car will only shift into high gear when the momentum will swing it e.g. going downhill, but if its on flatland its impossible to get it pass 3 rd gear, and sometimes when i stop and go i cant get it past 2nd, i just hear the rpms go up but no shifting, and when it does shift, like when im going downhill its almost like a jerking feeling that something fell into place, im guessing fuel delivery because i can floor the car anytime and i see a whole bunch of dark gray smoke coming from the back and my rpms going up but no shifting, last time i had this problem, i took it to a mechanic thinking it was something seriously wrong with my car but all he did was change my spark plugs and fuel filter and it ran like new, i did the same thing this time changing the plugs and wires and filter but to no avail, i hope its not serious this time

Well Barge Master I unplugged that thing and the car seems to be working great now. I took it to my parents house today and they live about 30 minutes away and when I got off the highway it didn't hitch or stall or anything. When I took off from the stop sign it accelerated nice and smooth, too. now I just need some tips on making it faster :coolgleam . Thanks again.

Glad it helped you out, Neon. Maybe we could put your 87 against my 89 on the strip one day and see which one can make the 1/4 mile in under 25 seconds :banghead:

And you guys don't like the 307 brougham's power...

Try doing a 1/4 mile in an HT4100-powered Brougham :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Bruce

I complained that I had no shoes, till I met a man with no feet. :)

Had the same problem in my '89. Lockup solenoid is my guess, too. Cost me $40 at a local tranny shop.