Hi Mileage Tranny

[wutsit42]

Decisions, Decisions...
I've got about 245,500 on this car. The trans was serviced about 200,000 miles ago when the valve body was replaced under warranty... I did not know that this was being done until the dealer finished the job. Now if I am in overdrive, and trying to climb a hill, the car seems to "buck" for a bit. More gas will force it to shift down and then its OK until the next occurance... sometimes it can go a few days without this happening. My mechanic is trying to avoid changing the fluid, as he thinks this will be the "kiss of death" to the trans. If it is a bad shift solenoid, he said that a code would show up, and I don't have the "service engine" light illuminated. Any ideas??? I am hoping to limp along to the 1/4 million mile mark. If I leave the car in drive, rather than overdrive, everything seems to work pretty well, but I do a lot of highway driving.

[wutsit42]

It's me again. Don't mean to appear to be an idiot... may have been born that way, though. Don't know why I have a smiley face in my note. I thought that I put in a few question marks.

[JimW]

I am having a hard time believing changing the fluids can be a "kiss of death" good clean tranny fluid and filters is essential to preservering the 4T80-E transmission.

One question. Why did you let it go so long before servicing the fluid?

Oh and did you read Ricky's thread? Who knows it may be a soleniod

[wutsit42]

Once the oil hit about 100,000 I was advised that it would cause more problems than solve to change the oil. Who thought it would continue to run this long?
I think the last act of desperation will be to do the trans service and change out all of the oil, and the filter. I also need to replace the plugs and wires to be sure that the engine is running as evenly as it can. Thanks for your input, and maybe it will just be the solenoids.

[RADEoN]

at close to 250,000, dont expect perfect results, thats a shitload of travel for any car to withstand. try leaving it out of o/d

[JimW]

On the hwy, OD is recommended to keep the RPM down.

[Aurora40]

That changing old fluid thing seems to me like a wives tale. If you let your engine oil get really really old, it would always be better to change it. Still, I doubt a change will solve all your problems. At 250,000 miles, you might look into having it refreshed with new clutches and bands and whatnot. It might cost you close to a grand, but it's a great car and has trucked along for a lot of miles.