'92 525 Transmission Pops Out Of Drive (GM-4L30E)

[imnprsd]

Problem #1) Any ideas as to why my 4L30E tranny pops out of the drive gear occasionally? It seems to only do this after it reaches normal operating temperature....and I can force it to pop out if gear if I drive it hard...and play with the accelleration.

I have 160,000 miles on the tranny. I just bought it... And I just had the tranny fluid and filter changed to see if that would help solve my problems. It helped, but did not fix the problem.

The problem seems to be temperature/electrical in nature, or maybe it's just time for an overhaul??? However, there are no codes to refer to and the tranny works great in manual mode.... no slipping! So I'm hoping someone can point me in a direction of a "quicker fix."

Problem #2) It takes 2 seconds to engage in reverse. Why?

[imnprsd]

I FOUND THE FIX.... In my transmission anyway. You need to remove the gear selector switch and clean it. If after inspection you see some copper traces worn away, replace it.

Also, some other symptoms are:

1) Poor gas mileage. After cleaning my gear selector switch, my tranny ran better and climbed hills better and go 3 more MPH (24 HWY) with better acceleration.

2) My dash lights which tell me what gear I am in are now clearer. Previously, some pixels were not lighting up or were randomly lighting up.

What a relief... And it did not cost me a dime to fix!!!!

Procedure:

1) Put the gear in nuetral and remove the alan screw on the shift lever.
2) Lift the cover plate up... Be careful not to damage the plasic piece which rolls up the shifter cover plate (BTW, my cover plate needed replacing so I ordered one from BMA for ~$4). To do this, pri-up the sides but try to lift from the top of the cover plate first and not the back half.
4) Remover the 2 alan screws that hold down the white plastic gear shifter (the one where the shifter lever has a pin to move the contact switch).
5) Clean the switch with contact cleaner.... Just stuff a rag inside and use a small flat head screw driver to clean. Then replace.
6) While you are at it you might as well vacume the crud in this area!

The gear selector switch is also called a neutral selector switch. It operates like a washing machine timer; i.e., over time the contacts get dirty or wear out.

IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING LOW GAS MILEAGE, AND YOU TRANNY POPS OUT OF GEAR ONCE IN A WHILE, THIS COULD BE YOUR SOLUTION.

...NOW AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU BELONG TO A FORUM LIKE THIS ONE. PLEASE RETURN THE FAVOR IF YOU FIND A CURE TO YOUR MECHANICAL PROBLEMS SO EVERYONE CAN SAVE SOME MONEY.... In your case, cleaning the gear selector switch solves your problem, you just saved a premature transmission overhaul and ~$2000 to $2400!!!