[Orange_Rush]

Hey everyone,

I have a 1994 Cadillac Seville SLS with a 3 speed with overdrive transmission that I have been having some problems with. When I am at speed and start to accelerate slowly it will build slight rpm and then kick. I did some looking around on the site and the symptoms are similar to some of the people who have had speed sensors going bad. The only difference is that my speedometer has never dropped to zero. It has always stayed reading the correct speed. I just had a transmission flush done to it last weekend. It seemed to help for a while but after just a few miles of driving it started doing it again. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on what the problem might be or if I am going to have to bite the bullet and put a tranny in this thing. Any info will be much appreciated.

Thanks
Wayne

 

[Ranger]

Go to the Technical Archives at the top left of the forum page and read up on transmission flushing.

 

[Orange_Rush]

I personally have had really good luck with transmission flushes. I am from a smaller town and the shop that I take my vehicles to actually does use clean oil everytime they do a flush. I know that this doesn't help with stirring up debris in the pan but I'm pretty sure he drops the pan and cleans it before he does the actual flush (I hope anyway). But, now that I screwed up with a flush, do you think the tranny is on its way out or could it be something else? I talked to a guy the other day that told me that the tranny has belts in it? I find this hard to believe but he told me that after a while the belts start to slip and this is what causes the kick. Are there really belts in this transmission? If so have you ever heard of them causing this kind of problem? Or could it be a sensor or something electrical causing the issue?

 

[Necrosan]

The first (and last) time I got a flush it WRECKED my 4T80E.
Never again. You don't know where that debris will settle when you flush it..
Could be into the flush machine, or could be further inside the transmission.
I will only ever flush again if I am given a written guarantee my transmission will be A-OK afterwards.
YMMV.

 

[jcresciSTS]

I got my ATF EXCHANGE done at the dealer...no problems, been almost a year

 

[Ranger]

Slipping "belts" are an internal wear problem.

 

[Orange_Rush]

If slipping belts is an internal wear problem for these transmissions what is the next step for me? How expensive is this going to be to fix? Also, if I continue to run the vehicle in this condition what are the consequences? I know I have a lot of questions, but I have one more so that if I go talk to a mechanic I don't sound like a total idiot. Do these transmissions actually have belts in them or is it something else?

Any information is much appreciated

Thanks
Wayne

 

[Caddyshack100]

Wayne, what is the mileage on your car? The answer is no there are no belts in the transmission, there are clutch packs, which do wear out.

 

[Orange_Rush]

This vehicle has almost 105000 miles on it

 

[Ranger]

If slipping belts is an internal wear problem for these transmissions what is the next step for me? How expensive is this going to be to fix?

A trans rebuild is usually around $2000 I think.

Also, if I continue to run the vehicle in this condition what are the consequences?

It will slowly get worse until it gets to the point that it won't move at all. Trans fluid will be brown and smell burnt. What's it like now?

 

[Orange_Rush]

I just had the fluid changed so its pretty fresh, but I checked it a few days before I had it changed and it was still red but I never smelled it. I had the fluid changed about two weeks ago...will I be able to tell by now?

 

[Ranger]

Probably not.

 

[Caddyshack100]

I am not very familiar with the seville of that year, did it have the northstar or does it still have the 4.9. 105k is very unusual for needing a rebuild, a 4T80E is usually good for much more than that, not withstanding its little quirks that have been covered here on the forums P0741 etc.. If it is a 4T60E it should also not need a rebuild with so few miles, but with this tranny it would not surprise me. I would take this vehicle to someone whom you trust and have it properly scanned, meaning have them plug a scan tool into it that reads the datastream, and check the transmission data either Data1 or Data2, and look for shift times, and if possible use the snapshot feature on the tool to determine what the engine was doing at the time. One thing you should know, putting new fluid into a tranny that is on the old side, usually takes away the varnish that is built up and makes a problem even worse. In your case the problem was there before. Good luck with it.