Is it possible, they changed the wrong solenoid ? Two of them look exactly alike, the other is slightly different. Just something to think about. Good luck

They said they bench tested the solenoid and it was bad. Then they tested it again when I brought it back a second time and had the same result. What I am told and what actually happened may be two different things however.

They believe it is a mechanical problem in the valve body or torque converter and don't want to keep searching anymore. They are pushing a rebuild at me for $3440.

they do not want to keep searching because the mechanics are too stupid to find the problem. they cannot diagnose anything anymore. all they can ever do is throw a new part on. it is sad.

I'd get a second opinion. It sounds to me like you've got a problem that's out of the league of the dealership techs and you need to take it to a transmission specialist. That's all the dealership is going to do anyway- pull the tranny and send it out to someone else. And it may not even NEED a full rebuild.

RPMs at 65 about 2350. Exactly 2500 @ 70MPH. PM'd you about the manual info.

Looked the manual over and there is not a lot to check. The code is for that solenoid either stuck on or off, the valve that solenoid controls is blocked or stuck, or a malfunction of the lockup clutch. There is a yellow wire with a black tracer that goes from the ECM to the solenoid. It is supposed to supply battery voltage (9 to 14V) at between 47-52 MPH. If you pull the ECM connector off the ECM, looking at the ECM there will be 4 sets of plugs. Right to left they are E4,E5,E6,E7. E7 has 10 pins on the top row numbered 1-10 right to left. 4th row down, far right is pin 27 which should have had that yellow/black wire going to it from the plug. Between that pin and ground (they use E5 pin 16, bottom row of th E5 plug, far left as ground but you can use chassis ground) should be 11-15 ohms. That is the only check of the ECM. You should have some continuity through the soleniod coil if you test between the Yellow/black wire and ground. If all that looks good you may have to find a way to check the voltage on that Y/Bk wire from the ECM while driving to see if it supplies the lockup voltage. It won't lockup if the trans temp says it is not warm enough or if the speed sensors have problems, but this should isolate the solenoid problem if there is one.

Thanks for your help Garym. Your fax helped a ton. It really added some insight to the problem and lack of knowledge that the service people have. By looking at your fax it seems to be that I need to check the valve body or torque converter clutch. Would it be possible to resend page AT-61 and pages AT-52, AT-18? AT-61 is hard to read near the binding. AT-52 and AT-18 deal with the valve body and torque converter.

Thanks again for all your help.

I'm going to check the electrical end first but my suspicians are that it is mechanical with a stuck valve body which may have been caused by a damaged lockup clutch.

Two separate but related thoughts..

1. I bet you had the same AT hose failure I did. Last week, about an hour after an oil change at the local dealer (I get 3 free changes a year ! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />) I could smell a bad rubber burning smell. I had a dig around in the engine bay and found the AT cooler return hose was pushed up and rubbing on the lower pulley. It had burned through the protective jacket and had started on the hose. Lucky I caught it so early. The mounting bracket for the two hard lines from the AT was bent, my guess is someone had a fight with the oil filter during the oil change and knocked it ? I had a debate with the manager but got nowhere. $8 hose, so I will just replace it myself sometime soon.



2. Uncanny, but I also have had the P0770 code come on 10+ times over the past year or so. I clear it, runs fine for 1-2 months, then pops back. Lock-up is definitely happening at the correct 47-50mph, so I have not been concerned with it.
My best guess is that the ECU is getting screwed around by the wildly fluctuating speed readout from the crappy speedo cable? I can get the code to throw very easily if I hover between 40-50 mph and gas it a few times. I notice the speedo is bouncing some 5+ mph. I'll bet the ECU gets confused when it sees some speed 'spikes' above 50mph, but the lock-up has not engaged, therefore throws a code.
You mentioned yours is NOT locking up ? therefore it might not be the same, but worth the thought before you spend $3500 !

Well I contacted a transmission shop and talked to him about the problem. He confirmed that it is either the solenoid, valve body stuck, or lockup clutch ruined. I was getting ready to pull the valve body and have it cleaned but the A/T temp light came on the other day after driving for awhile. That indicated to me that it must be more than a simple solenoid.

I took it in and he is doing a rebuild for a lot less than the dealer. He indicated that the torque converter was shot and indications of lots of heat when he pulled it. He actually does the rebuild not just a swap and the shop has been in business for a long time.

I would check the hose if I were all of you. I bet mine rubbed through where Maxx1 indicated. The first shop indicated that it was rubbed through.

On a good note, the dealer refunded ALL of my money. Simply told him I came in with a problem and left with the same. He agreed and refunded it without an argument. I can't complain too much about that.

Thanks for your help guys.