'01 ST Tranny won't drop out of OD

[Dave Archambault]

Last night, after driving arund for awhile, i came to a red light and proceeded to stop. The tranny seemed stuck in high (OD?) gear, began to rumble and growl to a stop and stalled. Somewhat like having a stickshift and not dumping the clutch befor stopping. My wife said it happened once to her... 2 weeks or so ago. ANy ideas?

 

[David Ponder]

I dont think it was the OD (5th) gear, but most likely not coming out of Converter lockup. (Basically like not pushing in on the clutch in a manual transmission) My buddy's Chevy Cavalier did this and would stall 1 out of 10 times at a stoplight. Turned out to be a solenoid problem for him.



I just bought my 01 ST 4X4 in May, and am still learning the ins and outs, but I THINK there is a way to disconnect the Converter Lockup electrical connection, and thus be able to "test" if that was the issue. Perhaps another member can point you in the right direction, and of course, correct me if I am wrong. :unsure:



good Luck,



Dave

 

[Bill Barber]

Do you have CEL? sounds like you may be in limp mode.

 

[Mike Roncarati]

Sounds like something that happened with my Cutlass years ago. When it happened, I would have to pull over and wait awhile til it wouldn't stall right away, then drive 15 or 20 minutes and have to do the same thing. I'm not a mechanic, but sounds like what Dave said, the guy at the shop gave me an option to go in and change the part, which in this car was a lot of labor, or just unplug it. He unplugged it and I never had the problem again.



Mike

 

[Dave Archambault]

Thank guys,



First, Dave... the lockup is a good thought, i never considered that. I'll need to do some research on that.



Bill... what is a "CEL"? She runs and shifts fine at all other times...(see below)



Mike... as mentioned, runs fine other than those times.



I DID find today that it appears to want to happen on a rather hard stop as opposed to a normal, gradual stop. When it looked like it was going to happen, I pushed the OD button on the end of the shifter and it appeared to bypass the problem... though I can't be sure.

 

[Dave Archambault]

Bill... "Check Engine Light"...DUUHHHHHH!!!!



But no... no lights, bells, or whistles.



Thanks