1995 Regal Tranny Problem

[KFRG]

Hey guys,
I own a '95 4dr Regal with the 3800, and I am not exactly sure which transmisison it has ( I believe the 4T60something) and have been having problems, specifically with the car's overdrive gear.
For example, while cruising at speed on the expressway, if I was to approach an incline in the roadway, I would normally put in more gas, well when I do this without completely taking my foot off of the pedal (I guess to take it out of w/e gear it was in at the time) the car will start bucking as if it's trying to budge the thing out of gear. After the tranny has downshifted, when it comes time to go back into overdrive, it will not. It's as if I only have 3 gears now. It will drive like this wasting gas until I shut down the car and start it back up, then everything will be normal until it all happens over again. My only guess is that it's something electrical, not neccessarily mechanical with the tranny bearing in mind that it corrects itself after the car is shutdown.
Has anyone else experienced or heard of this problem before? Im thinking along the lines of a shot solenoid. BTW, the car has 130,000miles, and as far as I know the ATF has never been changed. I have not even attempted since I took over the car in fear of damaging the transmission.

Thanks for any help!

[virgamanda]

I have the same car, that had the same problem. I replaced the Modulator valve, no more problem. That was about 25000 miles ago.

[Ruley73]

Your transmission is bad. You have the 4T60-E (the E stands for for electronic) transmission. What is actually happening is that the Torque converter can't lock up. Your computer senses this after a couple attepts and automatically down shifts into 3rd gear and will not shift into 4th gear/overdrive. Your service engine soon light should come on when this occurs.

My '95 Regal GS coupe did the same thing. Tried replacing the fluid/filter and it didn't help. I replaced my tranny at 140,000 miles. No trouble since. On a side note, make sure that they do replace the vacuum modulator too because this can damage the new/rebuilt transmission.

My bill came to about $1400 including new torque converter, tranny rebuild and all labor. I would expect a bill around $1800 because I was told that the shop I took mine to was the cheapest in town, but they did do good work.

[KFRG]

Thanks for the replys guys.