98 Century Transmission Question - No Reverse

[crockett1]

Hi Folks. I am new to this forum and am hoping that someone may be able to help with this problem. I recently picked up a 98 Century, 3.1 liter with 106,000 miles on it for my daughter. The car is in good shape and runs well. I drove it for a few days before giving it to her and all seemed well. It ran and shifted "normal". Now she tells me that sometimes when she puts it into reverse the transmission does not engage. It is as if it is in neutral. She can give it gas and the engine speed will increase but no reverse movement. There is no noise, grinding, or anything else to signal a problem. If she puts the shift back into park and then into reverse again it will engage and all is well. This condition can occur as noted above but also when going from drive to reverse. It does not happen all the time. Most shifts into reverse are "normal". There are no other issues with transmission shutter, whining, noise, etc. as others have reported on this forum. I have not changed the ATF fluid and / or filter. The fluid level was good and the fluid itself seemed clean when I went through the car before giving it to her. I should note that this car is in MA and that it sat unused for about two years. Prior to that it was a daily driver that received routine oil changes, etc. I do not know if the previous owner (now deceased) experienced this same problem.

I thought I would change the ATF fluid and filter as a start. However I wanted to get some expert feedback on this problem. I have read through many of the tranny related posts on this forum and was surprised to see so many transmission related problems. I did not however see any situations exactly like this one. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks for a great forum.

[BNaylor]

Welcome to AF.

Yes, we have many posts concerning the 4T60E and 4T65E autotransaxles.

Possible the previous owner had tranny work done. From what I see based on it looking good overall other than reverse engagement is check the cable linkage from the shifter to the transmission range switch located at the back, top of the transmission. It may be out of adjustment mechanically or the range switch has a flaky electrical contact. Also, it would not hurt to do a basic service consisting of pan drop - ATF and screen filter only. Does the PRND321 indicator work properly by showing the respective gear when shifting.

[crockett1]

BNaylor,
Thank you for the quick reply. I will proceed with the fluid and filter change. I do not have the car in front of me but as I remember the shift indicator did work properly. I did notice that the shift (column style) lever was a bit more difficult to move than I would have expected. I attributed this to the fact that the car had sat unused for two years. I will check out the adjustments as you suggested. Thank you for your help.

[crockett1]

Hi Forum Folks:
I finally got the chance to drop the pan and change fluid and filter. Based on what I have read on this forum I put in a bottle of red lube guard as well. Fluid was not bright pink but dark red but with no burnt smell. There was no debris in the pan. The filter I replaced was a SPX / Filtran and it appeared that the pan gasket was the formed ribbed original, do these factors indicate a previous tranny service (current miles = 106,000)? I could not get the car to recreate the no reverse condition. However my daughter said it has done it once since giving it back to her. As per NBaylor's suggestion I checked the gear shift indicator and all appeared normal. I also checked the computer with an Auto X-Ray 2000 scanner and saw no existing or pending codes. The hieroglyphic label in the trunk had numerous 3 digit codes on it. The only one I found that corresponded to a tranny code was M13 which indicates a 4T60E transmission. Is this correct? What is the difference between the 4T60 and the 4T65 transmissions? Is once less trouble prone than the other?

In closing let me say thank you for looking over this long post. I realize that this problem pales in comparison to most I have read about on this site. However if any one has a clue as to why this transmission sometimes exhibits a no reverse condition as noted in the first post I would love to hear from you.
Thanks!

[BNaylor]

They are both electronic autotransaxles and similar but the M13 4T60E uses a vacuum modulator to help shifting and control line pressure. But no relationship to your problem. IMO the 4T65E has more overall problems.