So a few days ago I was driving home after a work, the car was nice and warm and I decided to give it some juice. After a hard shift, which is normal with my tune, I got onto the freeway. Upon doing so when I let off the gas, the car revved as if it was in neutral. Rpms would rise, but no power to the wheels. As the commute progressed, things got worse. I "lost" drive every now and again on the highway, and had to shift into neutral then back again to re-engage. The real issue is when I got off the highway and came to stops. The car was still in drive, but wouldn't move. I had to manually shift from 1,2,3. back home and at every stop it would go back into neutral like symptoms. Reverse is totally gone. Car would engage both Reverse and Drive, but it only rocks back and forth when giving gas. 2nd seems to have disappeared, and was able to baby it back home in 3rd only. Checked the temps on the way home, 175-185f on tranny temps. Put it on ramps, drained the tranny fluid and discovered no metal shavings, clean filter, and no burnt oil. Not sure what the issue is, but never really had issues that I thought weren't normal, but on hind site, might be issues. Reverse always took 2 seconds or so to engage, and the car would every now and again slam into gear from neutral like situation if I came to a stop and immediately took off again.

Long story short, no idea what the issues is, lots of issues here, and have no idea where to begin. Heard something about a overdrive sprang, but no idea what other damage might be in there. Any opinions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums!

So you don't speak of which engine is in the car, but I don't think it matters, the auto's the same transmission (mostly), the 5R55S. As such this is likely a solenoid pack, although there's also a servo issue that may be to blame as well. The solenoid pack can be swapped in car, but I'm not sure the servo situation can be serviced without removal.

However, without getting in there somehwere and/or doing diagnostics with a scan tool and whatever other items that are in the shop manual (which I'd recommend before tearing things apart), these are but a guess based on information about the 5R55x transmissions.

Videos related. Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

This

 

Solid information here. Totally forgot to mention which engine it is. I have the 4.6. Also I appreciate you linking some video instructions right here as well! I give the solenoid pack a shot at first, as my car has 170,000 miles so I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. Never worked on a transmission, but this looks like a fun project (annoying as it is to give out randomly) to take on. Thanks for the responses!

 

Again, I'd be looking to properly diagnose the issue first. It'd be safer to do that than just buying parts and tossing them around. You might be wasting money and consumables where it's not needed and spending time you might spend twice. If you're going that approach, shotgun things at the transmission, then I'd say a full rebuild is a consideration instead to ensure you've covered all the possibles. Parts cannons don't work a lot of times.

Just tryin' to help, but you do you and that'll do. Light that cannon's fuse.

 

Overdrive sprag sounds like a likely issue from what you describe.