95 Transport problems with two rebuilt trannys

[Turboready]

Hi Guys,

I am in Ottawa, Canada and seek you advice on a problem which seems rare on my 95 Pontiac SE with a 3.8L motor. A year ago my tranny was taking a few seconds to engage first gear. Once it did and the tranny warmed up it ran fine. There is a tranny rebuilder I know and he did two tranny flushes which worked out well for a year. It then developed the same problem again and it started slipping as well.

I now decided to have him rebuild the tranny which he did and we installed it. It engaged first gear fine shifted into second but surges between second and third and third band fourth. It goes in third for a second, down back to second about six times and then will finally stay in third and then does the same between third and fourth. The guy then rebuilt a 97 tranny and installed it and it's doing the same thing. We scanned the van, checked all the wiring, checked the diff reference sensor, still no luck.

Would anyone have any ideas regarding this? Has this happen to anyone else before?

Many thanks for reading and I would really appreicate your input.

Regards,

Ralph.

[LMP]

Transmisison problems are always...problematic.
I do not like that: the '97 came with a 3.4 while the '95 is with the 3.8 and they are not geared the same: the ratio for the 3.4 is set for a higher engine rpm and your '95 computer will analyse that as a TCC slippage (engine running faster than what would be normal with TCC engaged) in 3rd and in 4th...
I do not know the details of the code so what the computer will do in that circumstance is just speculation....And I suspect the transmission in '97 Transport was a 4T40 and not a 4T60....and there is a lot of differences in electronics. Even if the transmission is a 4T60E coming from another car (like a Bonneville) the gear ratio is not the same...
So......I have more questions than answers to that problem..sorry for that....

[Turboready]

Thanks for the reply LMP. The guy at the transmission shop said he interchanged the diff between the 95 and the 97 so I am not too sure if this maintained the gear ratio. I do suspect that the problem lies within the transmission it self still.

The whole scenario took a worse turn yesterday. I got a call from the shop requesting my presence. They told me that the motor developed an engine knock and when I started the van I heard a gut wrenching knock close to the oil pan and my worse fear was proven, spun bearings on the #2 con rod.

This really bothered me because I changed the oil pan, gasket and cleaned the pickup stariner and installed a new gasket on it. I remember checking the con rod bearings for free play and did not find any needing attention.

This 3.8L motor has 220,000 KM and not having any previous issues what so ever, no knocking, leaking, frequent oil changes etc, I felt this was way premature for a spun bearing. At this stage I am not sure what to do, install a used motor and tranny??????

This van is fully loaded with all the luxury options available then, I will miss it if I have to send it to van heaven.

Thanks for reading.