No Go: Shift Solenoid Mailfunction

[gtx]

So, from the "graveyard" straight to the "car problems", yey for me! hahahaha

So as I'm leaving work today, and turn out from our street, I start to accelerate smoothly to 45 when I hear a quite popping sound and the car starts to slow down. Engine revs to hell, but we are slowing down, SES comes on, so I pull over and check the enginebay. Nothing seems to be out of order, I start the engine, and there's a weird sound coming from the transmission. I get back in the car, start it, try to put it in drive, no go. Turns out the car doesn't move at all, regardless of gear, not even in reverse.
Now after we got home (got towed) here are the codes I pulled:

P0760 Shift Solenoid C Malfunction
P0765 Shift Solenoid D Malfunction

I know nothing about the transmission, so if someone could enlighten me what's going on, that would be great. Is this something easy to fix... or is the trans itself trash?

[silversurfer]

sounds like the o ring seal on the solenoid failed causing the popping noise , you need to replace the solenoid its not alowing the pressure to biuld up therfore not going into gear , if its external solenoid your okay just have to locate it, if its a internal solenoid you maybe can take the pan of and replace it , or even take the valve body off and replace the gasket during reassembly , you might need to go to aamco it might be cheap.

[gtx]

Thanks. From what I'm reading at least one of them is surely inside. Do you think there is a particular reason for two of them failing at the same time? I'm at 100K btw, and had the fluid changed at 65k.

[silversurfer]

sound like a random failure i have not heard of them failing like that , check the wiring first it could be a short it could save you alot of money

[gtx]

sound like a random failure i have not heard of them failing like that , check the wiring first it could be a short it could save you alot of money
One thing that has been mentioned to me over at galantforums is that solenoids might fail because of heat or vibration. Now the road I just rode before this happened is a really bad dirt road (yey for SC in the 21st century) that shakes the hell out of my car even at low speeds. :( At least there's hope thats all. I try to pull the pan today and see what's going on. Anyone knows if I have to drop the trans for this, or can it be done without that? This is on a V6.

[silversurfer]

to drop the pan you do not need to drop the tranny

[gtx]

to drop the pan you do not need to drop the tranny
good to hear, time to take things apart

[silversurfer]

be carefull to keep everything clean

[skippy969]

Did you find anything wrong with the solenoids? I have a 2001 with a V6 and I have the exact same problem, both C and D solenoids malfunctioned and the car won't move at all.

[gtx]

Did you find anything wrong with the solenoids? I have a 2001 with a V6 and I have the exact same problem, both C and D solenoids malfunctioned and the car won't move at all.

I actually didn't even take them off yet, I tell you why. Before I was going to do so, I checked one more thing again: the fluid. My fluid was brownish (burnt) and the level was about an inch above the HOT line. According to fellow members this indicates a pump failure. At which point I just opted to go for a 5sp swap. The TC could be shot as well, no way of knowing it yet. I wish I could tell you what I found, but I'm still waiting on some parts for the swap, so I decided not to touch the trans till I have everything ready to go back in.

The thing is the codes alone don't give you enough info on what happened. Maybe have a trans shop look at it.
My thread on the other site: http://www.galantforums.com/joomla/forum/index.php?f=5&t=5422&p=48157&hilit=solenoid&rb_v=viewtopic#p48157
Some good reads I found through my search:
http://www.club3g.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87163&highlight=transmission+valve
This one's a really good one:http://www.transmissiondigest.com/tech/TD200508/200508ShiftPointers/200508ShiftPointers.htm
https://www.thegalantcenter.org/showthread.php?t=19259&highlight=gear+nd+pump+transmission
https://www.thegalantcenter.org/showthread.php?t=28100&highlight=gear+nd+pump+transmission
https://www.thegalantcenter.org/showthread.php?t=22242

I hope this isn't the situation in your case, just be ready. Once I have this thing apart, I post what I found and if we were right. I'm also curious what you'll find.

[Galant306m]

Thanks. From what I'm reading at least one of them is surely inside. Do you think there is a particular reason for two of them failing at the same time? I'm at 100K btw, and had the fluid changed at 65k.

They should both be outside on the trans itself. All they are, are two servos that are electronically controlled by rpm, the open and allow the transmission to shift. Easy to replace but the only thing that i would be concerned about is that they both failed which is weird. I dont know ware they are exactly on the newer transmissions but on mine they are twords the motor and you have to make sure that you have them in the right slot because if you dont the car will just shift through all the gears, found that out the hard way when i changed mine.

[skippy969]

My fluid is also about an inch above the hot line, but it is red, not burnt, and it doesn't smell burnt. Would this still be the pump or the TC?

[gtx]

My fluid is also about an inch above the hot line, but it is red, not burnt, and it doesn't smell burnt. Would this still be the pump or the TC?
You really wont know it for sure unless you take it apart.

[skippy969]

How bad of a job is it to take it apart?