Help me diagnose my transmission

[Riles]

Welp, I'm here again with the next problem of the week. I feel bad that I never have anything to contribute to this website, since every week the problem I'm encountering is something I've never dealt with before.

Anyway, on to this week's problem....

My transmission is making noises and shifting strangely. Here are the symptoms:

1. "Whirring" noise whenever the engine is running
-This noise is concurrent with engine rpms, not vehicle speed

2. Car can stay in gear just fine for a few minutes after letting it sit for at least 10 minutes, then it starts to slip out of any gear that it is in and the engine can spin without affecting speed

3. Car takes a long time to switch between drive and reverse, then back into drive (this could take up to 30 seconds now)

4. Selectshift keeps me going on the highway (4th gear seems to slip less than 5th), but when starting from a stop, I can't shift out of second. I can put it back back into D5 to let it shift itself, then I can go back to using selectshift

5. 3rd and 5th gear seem to be the worst, although occaisionally 2nd gear sucks too

I can't decide on whether this is a solenoid pack issue or if the actual transmission is slipping. Problems 3-5 (from above) lead me to believe it is solenoids, but problem 1 and problem 2 scare me into thinking it needs a rebuild.

I've only had the car for about 20k, so I have no idea if or when the transmission was serviced.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this has been going on for 2 days, but the check transmission light just came on today, although it went off after I restarted the car. Can I scan that with a normal OBD scanner?

 

[Jim Henderson]

I am no tranny expert, but this sounds like trouble.

Tell us what year and what miles you have. That may help steer us in likely directions. Also, if you are very very lucky the "customer Satisfaction" program may still be in effect for your car. It works even for 2nd owners. I had to have the tranny worked over at 15K miles on my used 2004. All costs including rental were covered. Not sure if the program is still in effect and without knowing your years and miles I have no clue.

The Whirring if it is in the tranny is not good. Wild guess is the sun shell, thats bad. Or it could be something on the engine accessory drive. So you need to localize the sound.

Slipping out of gear and taking a long time into reverse sounds like a pump problem and maybe clutches.

The check tranny light is in my mind an idiot light, ie when it goes on, it is too late to stop the destruction. Hope I am wrong. I am pretty sure you can pull codes from the computer about the tranny. Heck AAMCO will do it for free, but of course they will tell you major problems, but in your case they may be right.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

[eastcoastLS]

i bought my 2000 v8 few months ago and looking over the history from the 1st owner it says "customer states trans hesitates when shifting into reverse, verified concern. elec and pressure test. complete reprogram and engagement strategy as per tsb" it doesn't say whether the tranny was whirring or any of your other symptoms

 

[Riles]

Its a 2000 v8, and it just rolled over 100,000 miles this weekend. It's really strange how it works for 20 minutes or so before anything happens- leads me to believe it is heat related?

 

[HyeLifeLS]

That doesn't sound like solenoid pack to me. I had mine replaced twice, but I only had hard/late reverse shift and it was hard shifting sometimes in forward gears. The slipping that you are having and all the other problems, I guess the tranny is about to go out. Better have it checked before you get stock somewhere or break something else.

 

[Riles]

Oh well, I went ahead and bought a used transmission with 30,000 miles on it. I'll have the car up and running again in a week, then its off to the magical land of eBay.

 

[KD00LS]

I think the valve body is a common issue in the LS transmission.

 

[BigBoiLS]

i had the same problem except my check transmission light didnt come on. i was driving one day and my mp/h kept falling but i noticed my rpm was steady. so i pulled over and shift to 1st gear but it wouldn't move. but, reversed work. i also had a whinning noise. it has been at the dealership for the past week. my warranty is paying for the dealership to put in a transmission with 40,000 miles on it. hopefully it will be ok after they fix it if not i will be selling my beautiful LS.