Hello,

The transmission in my van has been acting strange for a little while. It seems as if it takes too long to shift from 2nd to 3rd, and ocassionally when its getting warmed up, will slip out of gear when crawling from a stop. I called a transmission shop and they told me my bands were most likely too worn for them to adjust. It's the original transmission with about 145k miles on it. What do I do?

 

Your pretty lucky to have gotten 145k miles on the original tranny.

Your probably looking at a rebuild, but might be able to put it off for a little while if you make sure the throttle rod isadjusted properly, the bands adjusted, if possible, and a quart of Lucas tranny fix. Some people swear it works wonders, some say snake oil. I've neverused it..

I've had bad experiences using Aamco when my tranny went bad. I used them because they're nation wide and at the time I was circumnavigating the country.

Amazingly my rebuild is still going 60k later, but probably because I baby it with fresh synthetic fluid and filter changes way more often than necessary.

 

Before going for a rebuild, you can try and change the oil and filter yourself. I'd try just doing the oil and filter without adjusting the bands, even though it is more of a pain that way. The reason the tranny is slipping is because it is loosing hydrolic presure. If it is just slight maybe the filter will help without doing the bands. If the bands are really worn and you adjust them you may get worse performance from it. Either way it is getting close to either a replacement or rebuild and you want to start budgeting for that.

Band adjustment requires a torque wrench. If you have the a727 tranny, the 2/3 band adjustment is located behind the filter, which is why you normally would do it when you change the oil. The 1/R band is accessable on the drivers outside of the tranny.

As for Lucas, I've used the motor oil additive, it works by thickening the oil. This will increase the preasure and may bring back a marginal loss. Everybody claims their own extra additives help, but if the tranny is very worn, it may not make enough of a difference. I like it because it comes in a larger bottle

IG

Edit: If where you are is just beginning to get warmer, then the Lucas may make enough of a difference. As the outside temp warms the oil will thin slightly and the presure in the system will drop.

 

A co-worker tells me to get a tranny flush... But many have advised against that saying that the sludge may me the only thing holding it together. Any opinions from fellow owners?

 

I think tranny flushes get a bad rap because it is not neccessary to drop the pan and change the filter, before or after. The filter gets clogged. boom.

Dropping the panonly only changes half of the fluid or less.
But you get to see the condition of the filter and magnet and fluid, and make a decision from there.

Dont forget to use only ATF +4. Dont trust a quickie lube or tranny franchise to use the right fluid. Bring your own and watch them use it.