Loss of all gears after warm up

[Robert]

Car: 05 Monte Carlo v6 3.4l 198000 miles
Trans:4t65e Auto
Issue: Car was running great Until 1 day i was driving home car would not drive from stop light it acted if it was in (N) i ran it thru all gears and nothing after a few times of revving it in (D) it seemed to engage and i was able to make it home where i noticed a whine coming from the transmission When i engaged it to (R) the noise was a pitch higher The next day i drove the car around the block and to the gas station car was driving fine except for the whine again coming from the trans after about 30 mins and on my way back home i lost all gears in the middle of acceleration i pulled of to the side of the road and waited about 15 mins started the car back up and drove it home again still noise but no hesitation no ruff shifts so i started my investigation started with linkage from firewall to trans and its perfect from there ive checked fluid they look and feel great its a light see thru red that is with car off i wanted to make sure pump was working fine so i continued with starting the car letting it run for 30 mins checking it multiple ways after warm up i did multiple checks with car in (N) (P) and everything looked fine smelt fine felt fine and level was perfect so i ran the car thru the gears until i felt it stop engaging like before my thought being the pump decides to crap out after it gets hot let it run for another 10 to allow any fluid changes and still finding that the fluid looks fine level fine Only difference now is that i see bubbles and the whine is alot more quite so before i tear in to the trans to investigate more….. any ideas??? is it just the air causing this??? there no leaks i havent flushed or changed oils either and what could the whine be if not the pump??

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

[Gary]

Bubbles are air/fluid being aerated by the rotation of components. Usually this is due to overfilling. So the level checks out and the fluid is cherry? Any codes? The first thing I would do is run a pressure test on that transmission. I suspect a pressure issue. Whine can be MANY things.

1. Chipped tooth on one of the planet gears
2. Torque Converter
3. Front Pump(this one usually varies in pitch with RPMS)
4. Torrington Bearing
5. Valve body issue

[Robert]

so i have no codes fluid is cherry level is spot on i will be taking the car to the shop next week so i have a lift to use but today as i was messing around i started the car again and let it go thru its cycle again till i lose all gears again but today i thought i would just rev it in drive see what it does and at around 3000-3500 rpm it actually starts to rotate the tires i had it on jacks so i dont have any clue if it would support the weight of the vehicle and pull obviously i wouldn’t try driving the car like that but would this help narrow it down at all? to me it still sounds like the pump or as u said pressure as far as i know if a torque converter is not functioning its not going to move period right? and the pitch does fluctuate with rpms but as i said the noise quiets down after awhile to a point of silence also thanks for the reply everything helps.

[Gary]

[quote=”05 Monte” post=128052]so i have no codes fluid is cherry level is spot on i will be taking the car to the shop next week so i have a lift to use but today as i was messing around i started the car again and let it go thru its cycle again till i lose all gears again but today i thought i would just rev it in drive see what it does and at around 3000-3500 rpm it actually starts to rotate the tires i had it on jacks so i dont have any clue if it would support the weight of the vehicle and pull obviously i wouldn’t try driving the car like that but would this help narrow it down at all? to me it still sounds like the pump or as u said pressure as far as i know if a torque converter is not functioning its not going to move period right? and the pitch does fluctuate with rpms but as i said the noise quiets down after awhile to a point of silence also thanks for the reply everything helps.[/quote] Be careful when you do a stall test. When you revved it were you on the brakes? Any more than 15 secs on the brake in drive revving can cause damage(also called powerbraking) because you are loading the converter up building heat. So it just starts to rotate the tires at 3K? Something is not right then. I suspect a pressure issue as I’ve said before. Have the shop pressure test it when it’s up on the lift.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’m glad you mentioned the bubbles as I was going to ask about that very thing. The bubbles indicate an internal leak and are probably the cause of the problems you’re having. Likely the transmission will need to be removed in order to repair the problem. I’d recommend having it rebuilt, or installing a reman if you intend to keep the vehicle. More info on issues like this here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-transmission-problems

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Robert]

Alright im back with some info finally …… found a tranny guy offered to do labor for 250 i said great 30 yrs experience working on gm transmissions should be nothing….so i ordered the master rebuild kit from TripleEdgePerformance.com the torque converter from advanced as well as the filter gotta get the basics after my awesome spending spree my pops a certified technician at a ford dealership pulled trans from vehicle after about a week of hearing nothing i was told its 25 in parts and tranny will be in the car Saturday night awesome so easy no sweat!!! UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT came around of course i knew something was going to happen its a good thing i didn’t get the new bedding set my gf was asking for lmao….. anywho i get a call my final drive is broken my pops can see it before pulling the trans out how the tranny guy didn’t see this idk im not the one with 30 yrs exp…… so hes pulling trans back out today i know i need to get a final drive MY major question is my car comes with a final drive ratio of 2.86 would it hurt or change anything if i went with one of the other options in ratios being:3.29 or 3.05 ultimate reason being curiosity and well of course price difference

[Author]

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