2004 Grand Am transmission trouble

[jackpot]

hey guys

2004 grand am, 3.4L

iv search and searched, had the dealer look at it, its under warrenty, pulled some bull tsb about the throttle body whistling

my good mechanic said he thinks it might be the transmission but not sure, told to go to this tranny specialist friend to see if he's heard it before

when ever the car is in gear and only during acceleartion (load) i hear this whinning/howl coming from the front end, its rpm dependant, sometimes it does it, sometimes not, usually between 1500-2200 rpm, can hear it really loud going up hills

on the highway its fine, higher speeds nothing, its only during light/moderate acceleartion

i had the tranny fluid+filter changed at 130 000km it now has 160 000km, im not absolutely sure but it seems to be getting worse and noticably more frequent

i know its hard to diagnose sounds over the net but have found a few posts about this sound here on this forum

if anyone can help me out it would be amazing, if anyone has resolved this issue etc, i have warrenty until 175000 km and want to get this fixed before then

thanks

peac
JP

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF.

Your post has been moved.

Please look at the dates before posting in outdated threads.
We dont need to bring up threads older then 3 months!

On the trany noise, hard to say but it's probly not good.
The trans specialist find anything ?
Any trouble codes ?

[xeroinfinity]

Sorry about that jackpot !
It appears I closed your thread on accident, its reopened!

[jackpot]

hey guys

sorry it took so long to reply, dont frequent these forums much as the GAOC.

This issue is still persiting and I only have 10k km left on my warranty.

I had a trans specialist shop drop my pan and have a look, said everything looked clean, no metal flakes, filled it up with new fluid and a new filter, so thats 2 fluid/filter changes iv had in 30k km lol

I have no SES light, had another place plug in a scanner recently, said there were no codes (not sure if their reader, reads everything, like codes that dont give a light)

the dealership that looked at in months and months ago, before the trans specialist, tried to say it was a throttle body whistle, im like yea right guys, they didnt want to look at it anymore saying thats what is is and its not covered under warranty, BS its the throttle body,

the sound is coming from the drivers side near the wheel, obviously the tranny, two other mechanics, one being the trans specialist said its the tranny, however they arnt sure if its going to fail but the noise is coming from there regardless for sure.

sometimes when im going up a hill its really bad, sound travels across my entire front end and sounds like its gonna fall apart, the whine/howl vibrates at such a frequency that all these different pitches of sound are produced.

that other thread that you said was too old for myself to post in had a TSB about our 04 grand am/alero's build from jan-july i believe, having the tranny chain/driven sprocket be 5/8 inch opposed to 7/8

thanks

peace
JP

[xeroinfinity]

Your troubles with the noise and hill surge is partialy from the valve body defect(s). The pistons start to wear the bore and cuase excess build up thus causing fluctualting trans pressure, making it surge.

As far as the differential chains, I pretty certain the 5/8 was used 97-03, then was up graded to the 7/8". The pump shaft and turbine was also upgraded(enlarged) in 2003 sometime.

I just rebuilt one of these not to long ago, now both my 99 GA's have 2003 tranys.
I destroyed my differential damaging my trans case, so I upgraded to a 2003 case .... plus a few othe rminor modifications.

Have a scanner tool ran while you are driving up some inclines, should be able to see the line pressure drop or fluctuate irraticly.

At $4000 for a new transmission , the stealership will NEVER admit the troubles unless you broke it and it wasnt driveable.

Good Luck

[svrwthr]

If xeroinfinity's answer was still not the problem it sounds exactly like what my problem was on my growl and blah blah blah after a water pump changed. I got my answer yesterday and posted there but will post here too. Check the flywheel. Not sounding like I know anything but my sounds were doing something similar. Idle was horrible, highway it was clean and beautiful, between first and second I would hear it, and over powering the motor or letting off the gas I heard it. Went through gears fine. Have them check the flywheel or have some buddy check it before you take it to them. You cna never know with a dealer, maybe they will take out the transmission and find the flywheel is broke, laugh and chnage that $50 part only and clean up the transmission and tell you you have a new one and all good to go.

[xeroinfinity]

your thread has been re-reopend.

[J-Ri]

Originally Posted by xeroinfinity

At $4000 for a new transmission , the stealership will NEVER admit the troubles unless you broke it and it wasnt driveable.

(Hint, hint; nudge, nudge; wink, wink)

[jackpot]

lol neutral drop the auto

I would be very upset for them to say it was caused by abuse and void the warranty

even tho obviously it wasnt caused by abuse

wouldnt it be noticable.....maybe some tips through pm lol

peace
JP

[xeroinfinity]

Yeah they'd know a neutral drop it would probly break thing pretty good , and it might not be driveable.

I'd say the noise is probly normal pressure hiss coming from the pump on the drivers side.

[J-Ri]

Does that common valve body problem cause pressure loss? I wonder if a pressure loss could cause the clutches to slip?

[jackpot]

so tommorow might be my day

I recently called GM, oooo what a time I had with them, went right off the deep end, didnt yell at the guy on the phone but spoke my opinion very strongly, very dissatisfied etc

One thing I think I got em on, the dealership in town (I was there to have my a/c done under warranty) and asked to have the guy come with myself, he said that noise is coming from the tranny but they dont have any tranny guys at this dealership in town but he's training a guy

I said but your not a tranny guy and your training someone

He says yup

Im like, ooook

so much for taking the car to any GM dealership with my warranty, said this to the guy on the phone and that basically voids the warranty.

regardless at the end of the convo the guy said, no prob sir we will get your tranny fixed for you

I was very happy

Went out to my local mechanic, auto trans specialist, told him the good news, im going out there tommorow so they can call GM with myself and my car there

Since they will only pay to have the worn components replaced and since most the labour will be paid for, droppy/cracking/reinstalling the tranny, I figured mine as well do a complete rebuild at the same time (pay extra whatever to have it done, 400-500 im thinking)

Is there anything I can "beef" up at the same time or do you guys think I should just have it rebuilt to OEM etc. I dont "plan" on running boost (however I would love a turbo). At most just an exhaust, intake etc, about to lower the car.

Really I would like the tranny to last a while, best it can, any input appreciated

Buddies out at the tranny shop quoted myself originally at 1500 for a rebuild, I asked generally what that inquires, seals and so on, said the most expensive part is the TCC and thats about 250, without that its not really a rebuilt, their words, not sure if that includes a pump, would hope so. if I can get GM to pay 1000bux atleast ill be happy and believe im rightfully entitled as my tranny is having problems and I did pay more than that for a warranty (stupidly I know, should have put it in a shoebox lol)

will let you guys know how it goes

Peace
JP

[xeroinfinity]

Sounds good !
I dont know if the GM dealer would use anything other then OEM, but raybestos blue plate clutches are the best , and worth the extra $$ IMO.

Actualy the TCC isnt that expensive, the torque converter is about $350 and is something that would get changed with a full rebuild.

The stealership will most liky take it apart and repalce/fix the problem(s) and wont want to mess with a full rebuild.
A lot of them around here dont even open them. They just send them away and wait for a rebuild one to arrive.

Hopefuly this will solve your issues, keep us posted & Good Luck !

[jackpot]

thanks for the reply man

What I meant by my long post is that a private transmission mechanic in town (the only tranny guy in town) is who will most likely be doing the job, I talked to them about getting it rebuilt at the same time and they seem down with doing it and charging GM for most of it and the rest of the cost to rebuild id pay from my pocket.

The dealership in town doesnt even want to deal with my problem, their loss I figure, rather not deal with them anyway, dont like the one in my town for their customer service

Thats why I asked about anything I could get done that would be a good idea to inquire about, thanks for the tip about the clutch plates\

peace
JP

[jackpot]

Well, I had an insurance adjuster come by and look at the car today, everythings a go, we have the authority from GM to rip into the trans

Right now its being determined weather they want to just replace the worn components or send an entire new trans

Either or im happy with, if they are going to replace the worn components then a rebuilt trans is alright, would prefer a new one but we'll see what happens.

Will try to determine what component was the cause of this whine

peace
JP