Why did Buick decide togo with the weak tranny in the 95/95s

jamie wrote:

In miles, mine would now have just shy of 150 000

THanks.

What about you, Chris. How many miles?

Albertj

albertj wrote:

SC95Riv wrote:

well the waterpump went on me quite a ways from home first off, actually at a gas station and I decided to leave the car there rather than pay to have it towed to my house because I wasn't expecting it to be 700 bucks to begin with. When my motor went I had it towed 14 miles to a gas station near a friend's house so he could give me a ride home and the tow cost me 90 bucks with using his AAA service. So I wasn't about to spend a couple hundred towing it the 60 miles or so back to where I live. But yeah I got ripped off, and it appears the 3100 I spent for the tranny at Aamco was a rip off too considering my car has no overdrive after not even 2K miles.

You must be pretty frustrated.

Seems that the tranny rebuild warranty (you did say AAMCO) ought to fix it if you are still in teh warranty period. I'd start there. You have a contract (the warranty for the repair); law enforcement will help you enforce the terms of the contract; go get 'er done. If you are out of the warranty period, here is what I think your problem is. If your tranny was properly rebuilt, what you are calling 'lack of overdrive' is probably the torque converter clutch is stuck off. It is a simple but tedious repair because in order to fix it you have to pull the tranny and disassemble it - the TCC is burned in there. If your TCC is stuck off, the MIL light will be on and when you pull the trouble code that's the code you'll get.

If what you are talking about is that you lost 4th gear, that's a very different problem. I'd wonder very much about the quality of the rebuild and I'd want to understand your driving and maintenance better.

So please explain. Does "I have no overdrive" mean you shift thru 4 gears but don't get 'lockup' or that you have no 4th gear?

Albertj


Albertj

The warranty is for 12 months or 12.000 miles. I had the tranny rebuilt in April of '09 and have put a total of 1,800 miles on it since then. What I mean when I say no overdrive or no 4th gear, is simply it would not shift from 3rd gear to 4th gear. I was doing 65 on the highway turning around 2600 RPM. When it should be roughly around 1800. I brought the car into AAMCO this morning and will have to wait and see what they say. As far as the torque converter, that along with all forward and reverse gear were replaced in the rebuild. Matter of fact they replaced all internal parts of the tranny. As far a my driving habits I haven't even gone WOT yet with the car since getting it back as I've been trying to break in both the new tranny and motor. The car has seen 85MPH tops so far.

I understand better now. Hope they fix it under warranty - unless there's something you're not saying, sounds like they just need to make good.

One thing to keep in mind is these trannies are really common - they will have no trouble getting the parts needed to fix it correctly. Sounds like your issue might be controls not mechanical items. We'll see.

On my 4T65, at 65 mph in 'TCC lockup' I'm around ~1600 RPM I think.

Albertj

Nope not leaving anything out, although you may be correct, I might be off on my RPM's at 65, 1600 sounds about right to me.

I hope they make good on the warranty as well. Funny thing is after dropping the car off at Aamco I went to the shop that rebuilt my motor and finally got a copy of the bill which they had said they would mail to me a month ago Looking at the list of parts replaced it states the sensor for coolant temp and another sensor for coolant, yet my low coolant light has been on since getting the car back. It was on before the motor went but I assumed they would fix it. After 3 months of waiting for the car, once I finally got it back and 4 grand later I saw it was still on and said screw it I'm not waiting another day for this car. Now seeing that both coolant sensors listed were 28 bucks each and yet my low coolant light is on is really bugging me. The guy said to come in after I get the car back from Aamco and he'll do a free oil change and go through the entire car to make sure everything is ok....we'll see what kind of song and dance he'll give me about the sensors.

Sonetimes on older cars when you manipulate the connectors the wires break off inside the plugs. If you look at the way the terminals are crimped on, part fo the crimping holds the insulation and part holds the wire. What happens sometimes is the crimp that holds the insulation, well the wires are stressed at that point and after age/heat/flexing they may break. Not that often but it happens.

The other thing is, your year Riv was known for less-than-perfect coolant level sensors. Hopefully someone will chime in with the fix. I do not remember whether it was to use a sensor off a later model Riv, or to just replace it and be aware there's a design issue. Seems to me that they were not interchangeable but I really do not remember. Again, I hope someone with one of the '95s that has dealt with this will comment (and not just tell you to disconnect the bulb...) The later model Riv had a *much* simpler coolant level sensor design, as I recall. What to do - when your Riv is stone cold, open the radiator cap and look at the fluid level. It is probably OK. If not you may need to replace the cap anyway. Look at the radiator fluid overflow bottle (that big trapezoid on the drivers side by the strut tower). It should be full to the appropriate marking with the appropriate coolant (DexCool, the pink-orange stuff). Things check out? Good. Take the car back to the shop that rebuilt the motor and let them deal with the coolant level sensor. I understand they are still available, although the specific one for your Riv might have to be obtained at a GM dealer.

Albertj