4T65E occasional rare slip

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bxd20

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Jul 17, 2005
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Cleveland, OH
Vehicle is a 2007 Buick Rendezvous with 3.5L and 4T65E.

The crossover has never trailered and generally been driven in an average manner (Ohio temps, no hard acceleration, mix of city/highway miles, etc).

I did the first transmission pan drop and filter change at 50,000 miles. I used a real ACDelco filter and Dexron VI as called for.

With a pan drop, I am swapping 8 quarts at a time, from a total of 12 in the system.

There was a light amount of fine paste in the pan and on the magnet.

Around 65,000 miles, I first detected a slip. It happens when you pull away from a red light or stop sign. It lasts only a split second and then there is a gentle bang and it catches and goes. The weird thing is, there is no rhyme or reason to when it would slip. It could slip when the trans was totally cold, or after a lot of driving and hot. It could slip 3 times in one day, and then not slip once again for months.

My overall plan was to change the fluid at 50k for the first time, then every 25k, so at 75k I did the second pan drop and filter replacement. Pan and filter (I cut it up) and magnet all very clean. Fluid had no burnt smell or appearance.

I'm at 93,000 miles now. So it's been doing this about 30,000 miles now.

A couple months ago I took it to a local independent trans shop that has a good reputation with car guys I know. He connected a scan tool (sorry, not sure which one) and we went for a test drive. It wouldn't slip for him, of course. Subjectively he felt the trans was operating great and the scan tool didn't reveal anything. He looked at the fluid and that seemed good to him as well.

Part of me says to just keep driving it, it's apparently not causing any long term harm.

Part of me wants to pour in some ARX or even Lucas Transmission Fix. If it doesn't help, I'd get it flushed out.

It seems most people on BITOG don't care for Lucas Trans Fix. But there are a few reviews for it on Amazon specifically for the transmission I have, specifically fixing this problem. I thought maybe I'd start with 8 oz of it and work up from there.

I know ARX is loved on here, but this is a trans I've taken great care of, and the slip started at such low mileage. I have trouble believing the slip is a result of it being dirty and needing aggressive cleaning beyond fresh trans fluid's cleaning properties.

But I'm listening to everyone's advice here.
smile.gif


I do want to keep this vehicle for the long haul. Other than this problem, it's probably been my most dependable car purchase ever.

Thanks
Brian
 
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This sounds exactly like the problem we had with our 2011 Impala. Turned out the dealer had to replace the valve body in the transmission.

When it doesn't do it, does it seem as if the tranny is sluggish to go into gear?
 
Sadly another bad 4T65E. Delayed engagement.

I recently had mine rebuilt and upgraded. The valve body was scored/damaged inside.Drives perfectly now

You will have to check for enhanced codes. It maybe the PCS Pressure control solenoid.Maybe.

Good luck.
 
Delayed engagement... good term to use, I'll start saying that instead.

I should've asked the dealer to see our bad valve body.
 
Don't videos always make repairs look easy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yDmkz42itM

So I think it's safe to say ARX isn't going to do anything in my case.

Lucas might, by thickening things up, cancel out some of the effects of worn parts and greater clearances.

Rebuilding the valve body might be as cheap as $100 and a lot of my time. Which I don't have now. So I'd probably pay a shop to do the work.
 
Same exact problem with the Uplander in my Sig. Had the transmission rebuilt, the issue continued and we kept taking it back, eventually they replaced the Torque converter with a higher stall one and the issue has not returned
 
Originally Posted By: bmod305
2007 Grand Prix with 135K. Steps I did to fix mine:

Ran bottle of Trans Tune for a month to clean tranny before change.
Dropped fluid & filter.
Installed TransGo shift kit for 4T65E.
http://www.grandprixforums.net/threads/7...tailed-Pictures

7+ qts of MaxLife ATF
1 bottle of LubeGard silver bottle

Tranny now shifts like new.

Dave


Dave,

Can you describe what symptoms you were having? A lot of people talk about slip between 1-2 or 2-3. I don't have any of that.

Thank you.
 
Occasional slip at start. 1-2 shaft flared at times. Once in awhile it would bang into gear while taking off from a stoplight. Sometimes it happened everyday and other times it would work fine for a week or two. I bought this kit:

http://shop.tripleedgeperformance.com/4T65E-Shift-Kit-Combo-Kit-4T65E-SKCK.htm

Got TransTune,ATF, and Lubegard from work(NAPA). The screen on the PCS also likes to plug or go out completely. Cheap part but much more involved to fix. I tried the shift kit first and it worked so far for me.

Dave
 
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Originally Posted By: bxd20
Don't videos always make repairs look easy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yDmkz42itM

So I think it's safe to say ARX isn't going to do anything in my case.

Lucas might, by thickening things up, cancel out some of the effects of worn parts and greater clearances.

Rebuilding the valve body might be as cheap as $100 and a lot of my time. Which I don't have now. So I'd probably pay a shop to do the work.


I would try some Lubegard in the RED bottle. If it is varnish in the valvebody it might clean it out.
 
There were several parts in the valve body that can go bad. Upgraded parts/kits available to fix them all.
They along with a bad PCS cause low pressure when you're pulling away. Hence the delayed engagement.
Firstly check that the fluid is full. Secondly check for enhanced codes.
I spoke to the guy at Tripleedge. He said I would need a rebuild. He was right.
The shift kit had zero improvement on my 4T65E. I had a bad valve body. New/upgraded parts fixed it.
 
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I have the same transmission on my 2006 Impala with 145k miles on it and I have not had a problem with it. It still shifts like it did when it was new (knock on wood). I did a dealer transmission flush at 50k, then every 30k after that drains and fills with MaxLife.

I also used to have a 2003 Impala with the same transmission and the problem there was GM used cheaper metals in the valve body which caused massive failures. Mine blew at 99k miles but had low speed shifting problems long before that. I believe they remedied that problem with the 2004 models and up.
 
Originally Posted By: 2sld3kf2bt
I have the same transmission on my 2006 Impala with 145k miles on it and I have not had a problem with it. It still shifts like it did when it was new (knock on wood). I did a dealer transmission flush at 50k, then every 30k after that drains and fills with MaxLife.

I also used to have a 2003 Impala with the same transmission and the problem there was GM used cheaper metals in the valve body which caused massive failures. Mine blew at 99k miles but had low speed shifting problems long before that. I believe they remedied that problem with the 2004 models and up.


GM did some upgrades around the 2003-2004 years. But the problems still happen.
 
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I'm at 93,000 miles now. So it's been doing this about 30,000 miles now.

It sounds like something is hanging up occasionally in the valve body. Why its hanging is another story.
If its a gouged piston nothing in a can and no fluid change will help it but if its varnish you may have some luck.

I would try BG Quick Clean for automatic transmissions and run that first, make sure you run it through all the gears manually especially holding it slightly longer in 1st and reverse gear.
15-20 min should do it. Do a filter change and a line off exchange with a quality fluid like MaxLife or Amsoil.
Add 2x 12oz bottles of Lubeguard Red, don't worry about overdosing.

You can find the BG product on ebay cheap enough. Make sure to use a quality filter in this unit.
Most are Chinese. I see NAPA is not carrying Wix for this unit and the SPX/Filtran is scarce, go with OEM from the dealer and reuse the original metal core rubber covered gasket.
Post back if you need the whole procedure.
 
My 05 Chevy Avalanche 1500 has been doing the exact same thing for the last few months. 4L60E I believe. 167,000 miles and no rhyme or reason to the hesitations. I back uphill into my parking space at work and occasionally it will do it in reverse as well. Anyone else have this problem with the 4L60E? What might be the first thing to check? I hope I'm not hijacking here since the symptoms seem to be identical with a different transmission. Thanks
 
Originally Posted By: gman2304
My 05 Chevy Avalanche 1500 has been doing the exact same thing for the last few months. 4L60E I believe. 167,000 miles and no rhyme or reason to the hesitations. I back uphill into my parking space at work and occasionally it will do it in reverse as well. Anyone else have this problem with the 4L60E? What might be the first thing to check? I hope I'm not hijacking here since the symptoms seem to be identical with a different transmission. Thanks


With that kind of mileage it could be just dirt. When I changed my PCS I noticed how it had a small screen on it. It would not take much dirt to reduce fluid flow. A thorough cleaning maybe in order.
 
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