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1994 DeVille trans issue

885 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  basscatt 
#1 ·
Last week I went to a city 3 hours away to see a DeVille. It test drove perfectly fine, no engine light, shifted smooth, no weird noises or smells etc. It has 160k miles which is a bit, but he was asking 1000$ for it and since it was in pretty decent condition aside from some minor cosmetic flaws inside I decided to buy it.

It drove perfectly fine for about 2 hours, then there was a hardly noticable thump which I initially assumed was from road, but then I realized the car was no longer accelerating. It stayed running and the motor was still responsive, it was just acting as if it was in neutral. No messages aside from the "service ride control" was or is now displayed on the dash which as far as I'm aware is completely irrelevant to the transmission. By the time I pulled over, a massive puff of black smoke came out of the engine bay and then subsided but aside from that everything appeared normal. No overheating, no trouble starting, it just has no gears now whether you put it in reverse, drive or manually select a gear. What throws me off though is that the computer seems oblivious to a transmission problem, I had a 95 years ago with some problems and it would display "gear indicator fault" occasionally so I feel as if it should know when there is a transmission issue?

I had it towed to the nearest garage from where it broke down and they suspect it's the torque converter. Their transmission mechanic does not want to work on it because it's too much work, is it even worth trying to find someone who will if it's that difficult? It'll cost me nearly 300$ to have it towed to my house and as of now I am going to fork that out so I can find another DeVille and use the bad one for parts. I hate to give up on it though, they really mean a lot to me and this one is nearly immaculate. My heart says to pay another thousand or more to have it repaired but my brain is telling me to find another one because of the high mileage and the risk of another major repair being needed soon.
 
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#3 ·
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You must almost take apart the whole front end to get the transmission out.
WRONG!
just pop the axles out of the trans -

You must drop the motor almost completely out from the bottom.
WRONG AGAIN!
you CAN drop the trans WITHOUT disturbing the motor -

The labor will cost more then the parts you need.
CORRECT -
but this is ALWAYS the case when rebuilding a trans -
 
#6 ·
My wife picked up a de ville a few months ago. I just took it to a good local transmission shop. He found a coffee mug of metal shavings in the pan. $3,000 later I have a completely rebuilt transmission....... sometimes you just have to pay the man and move on.
 
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