Sparkytfl

(1988 with 700r4, miles are over 130k)

This month I was doing some work on my exhaust as well as replacing my u-joints. I had a slow leak where the tail housing meets the body, and took the chance to fix it while everything was out of the way, which meant a fluid/filter change.

80 miles later, I noticed it was having trouble getting into overdrive, I kept going home, lost 3rd too. Coming from a stop, it would shift perfectly from 1st in 2nd, then at the next shift point the rpms went way up and I had no power. It would rev almost as if it was in neutral, but still move a little bit. I ended up putting it into 2nd manually and driving 30mph at 2000rpm for the couple miles home.

Got into the garage, I could smell trans fluid as if it was leaking everywhere, but no sign of leaks. Checked the level, still full.

Somebody at work suggested maybe I'd overfilled it. Is that a possible cause, or did I just experience the rumored high mileage shouldnt-have-changed-it failure that cant be fixed except with a rebuild? Put the old fluid back in, or did some little passageway get clogged from loosened crud? The old fluid had come out clean and normal-colored, non-burnt, and with an aftermarket filter in it, so this wasnt its first change. (I've had it a year and 5000 miles, no idea on previous upkeep)

Well-respected shop told me $1075 to rebuild mine, which is too much when I plan on a LS/4l60e swap next year. An old thread I found mentioned that our output shafts are shorter so its not just a matter of replacing the tailhousing on a non-vette trans. Has anybody fit a truck/camaro 700r4 in their vette? Am I stuck finding a used vette one for 600-800 (I work at a junkyard and ran a search and thats the typical price from other yards)?

We also have an abundance of 4l60E transmissions, I'm thinking of swapping in one with a controller, but dont know if those have the same output shaft issue. All I know about is later ones having six bolt tails so I'd need a 93-95. Those tci controllers are expensive too, which negates the practically free 4l60e.

I know that was a lot. Does anybody have any thoughts or advice here? I'm so bummed that my vette went down on only its second day after emerging from winter sleep.

Calderone

Lost mine too , its pretty normal !
Rebuild or buy a built one ! there is no other way

kimmer

3-4 clutch pak is toast.

383vett

I'm running a passenger car 4l60e with a TCI controller. Just whack 5/8" off the output shaft, bolt on the tailshaft and you're good to go. I hooked up a manual switch for the lock up converter.

caddyboy84

Try lucas transmission additive, it's a chance. Over the years I've used it in many cars and it always made the tranny tighter, I swear by lucas products. You should never NEVER change tranny fluid that might have alot of miles on it, you'll lose the tranny. The new fluid washes away the gunk holding the tranny together, this wont happen if the tranny has been seviced regularly. A good tranny shop will ask you how many miles the car has and when the last service was done, if it's been too long they wont even touch the tranny (Thats a good shop).

Sparkytfl

Using the "EZ-TCU"? So it's really that easy as long as I use an early style 4-bolt-rear one? I'll have to consider that, but doing my research I learned that they changed the torque converter flex plate hookup for the LS engines too, so my idea of buying the transmission now to prepare for an engine swap just got more costly with all the adapters and spacers.


I tried draining some fluid just to make sure it wasnt something as simple as an overfill, but no good. Driving through the neighborhood, I sped up to about 25, the car wanted to shift, but instead the rpms went way up and the car started to slow down. So no doubt about it, toast.

Now I'm looking at rebuild kits. The engine is pretty much stock with no planned upgrades except maybe exhaust. Just a street car with normal tires. Is it likely that I can get away with the $180 TCI kit? Since it was functioning perfectly, do I probably just need new clutches etc and the "hard parts" should be fine? I dont want to spend $500 on a ProBuilt kit if it's more than I need, or even $290 on the TCI with the shift kit if the shift kit is going to be pointless.

I'm fairly confident I can rebuild it myself, if theres one thing I'm good at, it's tinkering with things and figuring things out with near-ocd attention to detail. I rebuilt the engine with no training, put it back together when I bought the car with half the engine in a box because of the previous owner giving up on an engine replacement. I thought that rebuilding those computer controlled quadrajets that everybody dreads was a piece of cake. The only holdback might be some specialized tools.

But I'm still thinking of buying a cheap truck 700r4, cutting down the output shaft, changing the tail housing, and going easy on the gas pedal just so I can at least get it on the road while I take my time with the good trans.