Transmission trouble/very noisy 4L60-E 96 Buick Roadmaster

Hi to all, Driving home the other day from S.Jersey after getting off the 4 lane I approached a traffic light
where the transmission had to go down to first gear. Upon accelerating from the traffic light I heard a significant
noise comming from the trans,sounded like a bunch of chipped marbles spinning around in a bucket,once it leaves first gear
the noise goes away. My questions are ,what do you thing is making the noise? can the trans be repaired without pulling
it from the car,will it hurt the trans if I drive it? and generally how long will it take to fix the problem? Thanks for
your responses. ed

im not an expert on trannys but i would go to autozone and get a new gasket/filter fluid so id be able to see what the pan looks like look for excessive metal shavings pices ect you never know it could fix the problem without shelling out moneyalot of money to the tranny shop. hope this helps you out

sunshell might be coming apart,.reverse still working, or acting weird?, i.e slow apply,. apply release apply again etc,.(or on /off/on off/ if you prefer that description)
quit driving it to minimize damage,
Any time a 4l60e makes crunching, whining, grinding clicking, noises,. it needs to come out,.

Nick

What Nick said.

Yep, the sun shell is coming apart. I bet it makes noise in reverse too. It does NOT get better, only a lot worse.

Mine had been giving symptoms for a couple weeks beforehand. At the first stop sign from the house it would not shift down to low until I would start to take off again. The one day all heck broke loose when i attempted to back out of the driveway. It lasted about 20 miles more, then went into limp mode.

TylerW wrote:

Yep, the sun shell is coming apart. I bet it makes noise in reverse too. It does NOT get better, only a lot worse.

Mine had been giving symptoms for a couple weeks beforehand. At the first stop sign from the house it would not shift down to low until I would start to take off again. The one day all heck broke loose when i attempted to back out of the driveway. It lasted about 20 miles more, then went into limp mode.

Is that another name for a planetary gear? So tell me what you did to yours to fix it and who fixed it
and how costly of a job is it? tks ed

Roadagon wrote:

TylerW wrote:

Yep, the sun shell is coming apart. I bet it makes noise in reverse too. It does NOT get better, only a lot worse.

Mine had been giving symptoms for a couple weeks beforehand. At the first stop sign from the house it would not shift down to low until I would start to take off again. The one day all heck broke loose when i attempted to back out of the driveway. It lasted about 20 miles more, then went into limp mode.

Is that another name for a planetary gear? So tell me what you did to yours to fix it and who fixed it
and how costly of a job is it? tks ed

i realise i,m not on your christmas card list,. BUT,. if you google 4l60e modifications and upgrades etc,. you'll find hours of reading,.
I,m sorry to say, the trans has to come out,. Depending on your network in your area, i.e a friendly 4l60e tranny guy,.it may cost you upwards of $1200-$1600 for a stock rebuild,less if you want to patch things ,. but usually friction material and seals, bushings etc, get replaced when you are in that deep,.a decent trans guy can refresh the trans and leave alot of the working stuff alone if things aren't worn too bad,. but by now you,ve shrapnel running thru the trans and it needs a complete overhaul, (inmho). other options are to buy rebuilt unit from a known vendor plus your shipping charges,.If you are not comfortable with doing your own re-re, or are unable to enlist help doing the re-re, you are somewhat at the mercy of whomever you decide to entrust to do the job,.
You have no location listed in your signature, so i can't help you.

Nick

Roadagon wrote:

TylerW wrote:

Yep, the sun shell is coming apart. I bet it makes noise in reverse too. It does NOT get better, only a lot worse.

Mine had been giving symptoms for a couple weeks beforehand. At the first stop sign from the house it would not shift down to low until I would start to take off again. The one day all heck broke loose when i attempted to back out of the driveway. It lasted about 20 miles more, then went into limp mode.

Is that another name for a planetary gear? So tell me what you did to yours to fix it and who fixed it
and how costly of a job is it? tks ed

The "sun shell" connects the reverse input drum to the sun gear. The 2/4 band wraps around the reverse drum. When the reverse clutches are applied the sun shell spins the sun gear. When the 2/4 band is applied the sun shell holds the sun gear from spinning. This is why when it breaks you lose reverse, second and fourth.

Like Nick said, the transmission HAS to come out and be disassembled, and yes, if you are into it that far you may as well freshen it up.

I went a different route with mine...since it had 175,000 miles on it, I located a good low-mile transmission and swapped it in. You can find 4L60E's pretty often at a good price but shop carefully. If you buy used you need to get the same year model as yours due to some wiring differences among 94-96.

You can also buy a Goodwrench remanufactured transmission with a good warranty for about the same money as a good rebuild.

Me personally if i was laying out goodwrench type money,.
I,d want upgrades and shift improvements over stock,.
Nick

I have a couple of good transmission in the garage that I cannot use. I sent you a PM with my phone number after Nick gave me a heads up about your post. Call me if you like.

Tim

Sunshell failure would only affect Reverse, Second and Fourth gears. More than likely if the noise only happens in first gear only you may likely have a torrington bearing out or a planetary pinion bearing heading south. The front planetary gearset in particular.

One other thought just came to mind. If you pull the gearshift lever all the way into Manual 1 (Low) does the noise go away? If so, the low roller one-way clutch could be going bad. The low roller one-way is only used in the "D" range selection. When the manual valve is shifted into manual low the low-reverse clutch engages and the low roller one-way clutch is not used. Still requires teardown, but it may be a temporary solution to avoid the noise.