1996 Cadillac Deville Transmission Troubles

CRIB_TROLL

MEMBER
1996 CADILLAC DEVILLE
V8
FWD
AUTOMATIC
110,000 MILES

I bought a 1996 Cadillac Deville in early February. It had 105,000 miles on it and I gave it a good test drive and didn't find anything wrong with it. On April 1st I was leaving work and all of a sudden I noticed I couldn't easily get my speed above 35 MPH. I flipped on my driver information center and watched my RPMs and noticed that they were very high. I pulled to the side of the road and turned the car off and waited about 3 minutes then turned it back on and tried to drive again but was having the same problem. I pulled off the road into a parking lot and shifted my car into reverse and that worked fine. Then I shifted it into 1st and accelerated to ~20 MPH and tried to shift into 2nd gear but nothing happened. I tried 3rd gear also and nothing. Shortly after that I got a Check Transmission message in the driver information center. I limped my car home at 25 MPH and the next day took it to my local transmission shop. They took it for a ride and hooked it up to their computer and they told me my transmission was shot. I said go ahead and rebuild it. $1800 later, on this past Monday I got my car back and the car was shifting again into the other gears but I almost immediately noticed that it felt like it was slipping. I would be traveling at ~25 MPH and I would feel the car shift pretty hard into 2nd gear. I noticed the same thing at ~40 MPH and ~55 MPH. When I take off at a good clip I don't notice the shifting but when I'm traveling through town at a lower, steadier speed I definitely notice it. I'm wondering what is going on here, if the trans. Was rebuilt I shouldn't be having any problems at all with it should I? I'm beginning to wonder if they actually rebuilt my trans. Or just replaced a sensor or something like that and said they rebuilt the trans. And charged me nearly $2K. Can I get some thoughts/opinions and maybe some advice on what steps to take? I truly appreciate any help.

4 Replies

FACTORYJACK

MECHANIC
4,159 POSTS

They should have reset the trans adapts, that may have something to do with it. Do you have a check engine light on again, some faults cause the ecm to command maximum line pressure and you would notice the firm shifts. Worst case, take it back to them and tell them it is not right. It should have some warranty.

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Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 AT 7:11 PM

CRIB_TROLL

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No, I don't have any check lights on. I have a one year warranty so I'll be taking it back in tomorrow to have them look at it.

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Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 AT 9:20 PM

CRIB_TROLL

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4 POSTS

OK, so on Monday I took the car back to the shop and we went for another little test drive. It was kinda hard to duplicate what was happening pretty regularly for some reason but I did manage to get the car to do it again, and shortly after that on the way back to the shop I had the check transmission light come on, what better timing could there be then with a mechanic in the car. The computer displayed a slippage code and they told me the torque converter they put in must be bad and that they would replace it. I went back Friday to see what kind of progress they made and they told me they put in another torque converter but it was still having the same problem. So far they have been really good about things but it seems like it is taking a long time. I'll update this post again once I get more info.

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Saturday, May 9th, 2009 AT 8:17 PM

CRIB_TROLL

MEMBER
4 POSTS

So this past Monday I get a phone call saying that my car was ready to be picked up and that they can't figure out why it is slipping. They said they keep getting some error code they don't recognize and that the slipping I am feeling is caused by the computer not keeping the settings of the transmission/torque converter. They said after the car is turned off the computer will not remember the settings. So I picked the car up and sure enough it is still not acting right. It seems like the transmission is shifting late and this is causing the slipping feeling. Like when I'm traveling at about 40 MPH and my RPM's are up around 1800 and I gently step on the gas and at around 42 MPH I notice the hard shift and my RPM's drop to about 1500. I have been asking around for advice about this and I had someone tell me it could possibly be a speed sensor. I ran the on-board computer diagnostic tool and came up with the following codes: PC0603, PZ1552, IP1552, PZ2476, AC1348, RS0030, PZ1971, PZ2473, PZ2472. And RS0038. The only current code was RS0038 which I believe is an electronic ride level control error code. Anyways, I am looking for advice on what to do, I'm worried that this slippage problem will eventually lead to other problems and I want to get it fixed ASAP.

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Friday, May 15th, 2009 AT 12:58 PM