Installed another tranny, now...

Hello all;

I replaced my worn-out transmission with one from a wreck, installed new hub assemblies, and drive axles. The transmission shifts smoothly and appears to function good, except for a slight hard-shift at high speed which isn't really a concern right now. My problem is the warning lights I now have. All electrical connections have been checked and I have the following lights on that were not on before:

1) Service Engine Soon
2) Anti Lock
3) Trac Off - I tried pushing this button many times with no effect.

Is it possible the car's computer needs to be reset or recalibrated? (and I don't know how to do this) Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

It's a 2001 Buick Regal LS, 3.8L, no supercharger.

Best thing to do is get it scanned with an odb-ii scanner. Since there are ABS/Traction control lights on it should be ABS capable. Then post the codes (DTC).

Thanks. I'll be getting to that on Friday night. Stay tuned...

hi my name is franklin in ga.

im getting ready to swap my transmission, ( 1996 buick regal grand sport 3800 )is there any tips or simple problems i should be aware of. im not really sure about doing this because of the front wheel drive .(never worked on one before ) but i do have some exp. with cars. do you think this is more than i can handle?

thanks

im also wondering about the trac light, what exactly is this, i thought it had something to do with the braking system

BNaylor,

Put on the ODB II Scanner - No codes. Turned the key to the "on" position with the scanner plugged in (waiting for the 10 seconds as instructed on the scanner) and the 3 lights in question were NOT lit. Started the car, and the 3 lights were NOT lit. The Traction button on the middle console turned the "Trac off" light on and off like a charm.


Ok, so we're thinking that the car healed itself and I started to drive down the driveway. I went about 30 feet and all 3 lights came back on.
Plugged in the scanner again, No lights, drove about 30 feet, lights are back on... Again, no codes.

I guess I should have named this thread "Installed new hub assemblies, axles and used transmission (which now is shifting harder, but that's another thread)... As always, ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Franklin,

My best advice is to read manuals explaining this from start to finish before you start, a lift, and good way of supporting the tranny as you lower it from the car and to lift it into place to install the new one - these things aren't light, and make sure you buy all of the seals that go with the tranny - I had three of them. I'm also reading stuff about having the "Transmission Adaptive Pressure" (TAP) codes reprogrammed. I'm just starting to research this so maybe I'll post something later as this might be the cause of my tranny hard-shifting just like the one I replaced.

Franklin,

My best advice is to read manuals explaining this from start to finish before you start, a lift, and good way of supporting the tranny as you lower it from the car and to lift it into place to install the new one - these things aren't light, and make sure you buy all of the seals that go with the tranny - I had three of them. I'm also reading stuff about having the "Transmission Adaptive Pressure" (TAP) codes reprogrammed. I'm just starting to research this so maybe I'll post something later as this might be the cause of my tranny hard-shifting just like the one I replaced.

thank you so much for the quick response. i the bad thing about this job is that ive waited a week already thinking my wife would want to have the thing rebuilt and she insist that i can do it. shes really tight with the money lol, so shes expecting me to do this this weekend. maybe you can tell me where i can find out if a 95 olds cutlass with 3800 engine has the same transmission as my 96 regal? they use the same filter and my haynes book covers 95 olds.

thank you so much

i think i figured out what happened to mine,weve had a sensor out in ours and it would idle real high around 2500 and wouldnt idle down unless we turned off and restarted it. we sometimes would shift into reverse while idling high. reverse went out and i changed the filter while in the pan i found some type of metal, looked like sleaves of some kind. i figured the high idle made them brake when shifted in gear. i guess. wouldnt you think that would do it?

Franklin,

One thing that I do know (which isn't much but...) and I am going to say this to you with the highest respect... If you do not know how to do this (because others think that you should) don't do it. If you mess up it will end up costing you more AND you run the risk of injuring yourself and possibly others.

As for finding parts, I used www.uneedapart.com to find the tranny. This sends out your request to many salvage yards all over the country.

well ive got a good friend that knows how to do it but hes not able to do a lot of phyical labor , but he says he would help me though it and he says that i would be stupid to pay someone. he doesnt feel like we would have any problems. you said earlier that i should replace the seals and my haynes book only talks about one seal which other ones are they?

and i want to thank you for your interest in my problem, and you give me something to think about as far as being very careful
franklin

There is a seal for each axle. Good luck.

I was able to find a dealership today who had an ABS-capable code reader. The scanner showed that I had the wrong gear ratio in the tranny AND that the passenger-front hub assembly had a bad sensor. (I forgot to ask what the number of the codes were!!)

The dealership totally reloaded the "computer", which includes the TAP codes) to hopefully take care of tranny ratio (they confirmed that it was the same tranny as the original). If it continues to shift hard, I'll take it there to address GM Bulletin #00-07-30-002B.

After the reload, the lights did relight, but this time, no codes appeared. I purchased another hub assembly and installed it - NO MORE LIGHTS! :grinyes: I drove about 150 miles on he new hub assembly and no problems so far.

Thanks for the feedback and update.

As a result of the PCM module reflash the dealership cleared the TAPS - Adaptive Shift info stored in the PCM module. Then it will relearn and re-establish the optimum shifting based on your overall driving. It may take several drive cycles. Hopefully the shifting problem resolves itself. If not the TSB may be applicable if this one references the PCS solenoid.

Out of curiosity were they referring to the internal gear ratios for 1st to 4th or the final drive gearing (differential)? Final drive gearing ratio should be 3.08:1 for your year/model Regal.

From what I remember, from the Tech showing me the readout, all it said was "Incorrect Gear Ratio" and it didn't say which gear. I really don't think it said anything else. I will have it rescanned in a couple weeks to see if everything is ok. If I get any transmission codes, I'll post it here. Thanks for the feedback.