Dropped her off last night for my appointment today to have their transmission guy take a look at her. I'm really hoping that it's just a sensor that went bad or something cheap, quick, and easy to fix...

Can't wait to have her back up and running at 100%. Having to *****-foot it while driving around because it wouldn't shift properly isn't nearly as much fun as taking off from a light at 12 psi and the M62 screaming...

 

Get well soon Christine!!!!

 

Unfortunately it's looking like Christine's going to need surgery... I just hope it's not going to break the bank...

Now the debate begins...

1. Return her to stock (drivetrain-wise) so it doesn't happen again.
2. Keep her as-is and roll the dice every time I race.
3. Sell her and get something that'll be a bit more reliable and won't have an autotragic transmission that I can't fix myself...

 

why not spend the coin and beef up the tranny so it doesnt break again?

 

What is there to do to the 4t45E to beef it up?

 

Google it bro. There's stuff out There and it's not to expensive.

 

There are options for building a drag-prepped 4T45E (higher stall converter, etc.), but I have no interest in ever taking my Cobalt to the strip. The only real option is upgraded clutch packs. I'll definitely consider it if they plan on a rebuild - most times they order a rebuilt transmission from somewhere and then just swap in in/out. I'll certainly shop around for the best price once I figure out what they say it needs...

Really blows that this **** happened after less than 5k miles on boost (most of it easy highway driving) and 2 weekends of autoX (~15 minutes of race time)...

 

What a shame. She really liked to put out too

 

You could upgrade the clutch packs and increase the stall speed slightly. Turbo automatic cavaliers rebuild there 4T40s all the time and see decent improvement.

 

Look into Cryo treating?

 

I've never heard of anyone grenading a gear in a 4T45E... Cryo would seem to be a waste of money, especially at low-mid 200 whp...

Yep. She's a hell of a fun ride, too.

 

scary stuff i still dont have a tranny cooler and when the car was running sometimes i would get in and it would say traction control disabled along with the ESC.

http://www.importperformancetrans.com/gmautofwd.shtml

rebuild kit

http://www.importperformancetrans.co..._detail&p=1972

 

Talked with the service writer this morning. They have no clue what's wrong. There aren't any codes at all being thrown and that there should be with the driveability issue that it's having. They said that they would be more than happy to replace the transmission (on my dime), but that they couldn't guarantee that the issue would be fixed with that!

So, the time has come to part her out and bring her back to stock. There's a chance that doing so will sort out the issue and either point them to the culprit or solve it altogether if it's some weird electrical/programming gremlin.

 

Noooo...... What's it doing? just really delayed shifting or...?

 

Yeah, basically. It's "hanging" shifts. Takes a long time to shift at times and it'll let the engine rev up before shifting. It'll hold in any given gear just fine, even at WOT, just the shifts are fucked up.

 

there was a guy on here with a turbo cobalt and an auto tranny, he blew his tranny and got a built one to handle the boost, he didnt race his either, just took it to the strip, theres always options out there if you actually look. You dont seem interested in doing this because your pissed off at the car.

 

You should hear it scream at 15 and higher

 

I cant believe that trans didn't hold up. If you dont have a trans cooler, maybe it got over heated and messed with those clutches? ( I don't have one, but probly ought to ). Low on fluid? The only other thing i can think of is since it's not showing anything diagnostic wise... I'm wondering if upping the pressures via hp tuners or a b&m shift plus would do anything. Perhaps even the torque management function is playing a role with the increased power, mine has not been altered though. But my line pressures were increased. Just shooting out some ideas. I'm trying to think.....

BTW, Ross
My TC light will appear sometimes randomly also. However, I believe this is related to a DTC. (I have a constant po171. I gotta get that turned off with Hptuners lol) Whenever I "clear" the codes through my interceptor that light will go off even if the check engine light isn't on.

 

Had a trans cooler (installed in March once it started getting warmer out). Fluid is full and clean, but probably getting close to ready for a flush.

The issue presented itself shortly after I fixed a fairly large exhaust leak at the header/downpipe connection (right by the O2 sensor). The car immediately ran better after that, but I wonder if it's now running so well that it's activating an anti-abuse override?

I'm all for fixing it and fixing it right, but I can't validate to myself or my wife the need to rebuild a transmission every 8 months on my DD.

Here's a question for those who are mechanics... If it was an issue with the clutch packs going bad, would the transmission still hold under WOT? It just seems weird to me the fact that it'll do it's stupid shift-lag at 20% throttle and then pull like a bat out of hell in gear at WOT...

Also, any chance that this could be tune-related? Just seems weird that there would be these issues and there's no record of having any problems in any stored codes...

 

I think there could be something to this. Like I said, I have a P0171 (which is a lean code), my car will shift pretty harsh sometimes when the t/c gets randomly disabled. There was a thread on hptuners site not to long ago about that situation where a/f problems could mess with the shifting. I would like to turn the p0171 code off and see if that helps mine. But you say yours isn't throwing a light, so I dont know.

 

WTF!!! Only 5k miles. Ur tranny shouldve held out wayyyy longer than that. That ****** blows. I mean depending on ur wallet I'd try to swap or build it but then agian the money is an issue. Thts ridiculous that u got less than 5k on easy driving. Did u tune ur tranny wen u did the swap!?

 

Really? That would be a HUGE relief... I was planning on getting retuned this summer to fix the fuel trim issues that I saw once I fixed the exhaust leak...

I'll just say that I was less than pleased with my initial tune...

 

if it was shift clutch related, it would be worse at WOT.. not better..

 

Thanks. That's what I thought as well.

 

Yea cuz I had my tranny tune but it was running so wierd I put it to stock agian and it's been good but idk man. Ur situation is rough tho