Im new here and Im having some issues with my transmission in my 1996 chevy k1500 4x4. there is about 150k miles on the truck and it has the 4l60e The night before the problem started i drove my truck about 40 miles down the highway going about 60 most of the way and i had no issues at all. no noises no grinding gears everything shifted fine. the next morning i woke up and got right on the highway to go to work. the trans shifted through first and then stopped in 2nd gear and wont shift into 3rd. i could not get the truck above 45mph without the rpms getting to 4-4.5k. i was told by several people the trans wont last more than a couple weeks. now it has been 3 months later and babying the trans problem is still there but has gotten worse. the trans gets stuck in 2nd whenever i slow down for a turn or whenever i accelerate too quickly the truck revs really high like its in neutral. i changed the fluid and filter and i did not see any large debris of metal inside the pan and the fluid doesnt smell burt and still has a red color to it. im about ready to rip the hair out of my head with this issue. please help.

 

Its a chevy thing. You need to get the transmission rebuilt. You may be able to get away with just a torque converter or adjusting the bands.

 

eh you have to drop the trans to change the torque converter anyways so might as well just get the trans done while its out. just wanted another opinion. this shop by my house quoted me 1100 to 1300 for everything and 1000 for a bench job so im gonna let them do it.

 

This is pretty common for 4L60's....the 3rd & 4th clutch pacs go out. I had mine replaced by a good shop, $2000 with a few goodies tossed in. It is worth it....really. Everything else on the truck I can pull off and fix, even in the woods. The tranny, not so much. Pay for a good one with a solid guarantee and be sure to have a good tranny cooler.

I asked my tranny guy about temperature and he said that the tranny temp should be the same as the radiator, but tranny fluid is more sensative to overheating. I added the cooler and dropped back to a 185 degree thermostat, which also is a TBI trick.

 

I had the same problem going on. My speedo quit working and it would only shift to second manually but not 3rd or 4th. I knew nothing was wrong with your transmission. It ended up being my brake fuse being popped. Fixed my speedo and tranny shifts fine now. The only problem I have left to fix is I keep popping 4x4 fuses. I put a new actuator in and still nothing. I have it manually locked in 4x4 to get through the winter but I really wish I could figure out whats wrong with it. If I knew what color wire goes where down there by the actuator that would help. All the wires look good.