Hey all,
I've got a 2003 LC that I've owned for the last 5 years and am the second owner. It has 270k+ miles on it. It's been fantastic for 4.5 of those years but the last 6 months have been real tough for it.
A little over 3 months ago I was driving home from work when I noticed a clunk while leaving the parking lot, which then caused the check engine light along with VSC lights to come on. I decided to see if I could make it home (don't live far, about 15 minutes) without getting a tow. It was a rough trip - it was clunking all over the place. I realized on my 15 minute drive home that the clunk was mostly between 1st and 2nd. So, I was dreading any time I saw a stop light that was coming up. It would clunk while downshifting to 1st and then shifting up to 2nd once the light turned green. It was mostly smooth after passing 2nd and going into 3rd, 4th and 5th. I finally made it home, though.
I called my local mechanic and dropped it off for him to look at. He ran the codes which he said were coming back as transmission codes, I believe he said "slipping between __ and ___" (can't remember). He said he doesn't work on transmissions and recommended a local transmission shop. So, I took my car back and then about a week later drove it to the transmission shop and dropped it off after hours. Oddly enough, my ride down to the transmission shop (about 30 minutes on interstate and back roads), there was no clunking whatsoever - it's as if it never happened. The check engine light was still on, though.
The transmission shop called me about 10 days later (they were backed up) and confirmed basically what the first local mechanic said: "It's showing transmission codes, it's slipping between 4th and 5th..." and they recommended a transmission rebuild. So, I said yes. They said it would be 10-14 days for the rebuild.
Two weeks go by and they said that the transmission went in great but they were still experiencing electrical issues and that they would keep me posted.
A couple more weeks went by and then they called and said that they've "replaced all the electrics in the truck that they could think of" and then that the catalytic converter was so gunked up that the truck was down on power and they couldn't get a good test drive in, so they recommended they "knock out the ceramics" which of course would throw an O2 sensor code but would also help them get a test drive in. So, I agreed.
A couple more weeks went by and they said they are still having issues and the "last ditch effort" would be to replace the Engine Control Module. So they spent a couple weeks looking for one and finally found one that came in from NY. They had to program it when it got in so they had someone come and program it (I also had to go down there and drop off all my spare keys so they would all work after the reprogram).
I then got a call back a few days later saying that the vehicle was ready to be picked up and was running good.
I went and grabbed it at about 2:30pm on a Friday and started driving home. Everything was running great - check engine light was on (for the O2 sensor) but the transmission was shifting smoothly. It's a few miles of back roads until I get to the interstate. Once I get to the interstate, I get it up to 75mph and it's still running great. I then had to get off on an exit for a quick stop. After that, I went to get back on the interstate and while I was on the on ramp, in Drive, the truck totally slipped out of gear and my RPMs go soaring. No gear was engaged. I was basically in neutral. I was trying to get back on the interstate so I started riding the shoulder at about 40mph and dropped it down to 4th to see if that would help - it did. Somehow it found 4th and I kept it there and headed straight back to the transmission shop. I'm going 60 on the interstate in 4th so my RPMs are about 3,000 but at least it stayed in gear.
Once I got off the interstate, things got very clunky... it was worth then it was before I dropped it off. I'm in Drive now and after accelerating from every stop light it couldn't find the right gear to save it's life. My foot was almost all the way down just to accelerate from 0 - as if I was starting in 3rd or 4th. Then, at random times I would get my neck snapped back from it finding a gear and violently engaging that gear. It was all over the place. I finally made it back to the shop at about 3:30pm on Oct 27 and they have had it since. When I dropped it off I talked to a couple of the mechanics who had been working on it and they said that they had test drove the truck 30 miles before giving it back to me - with zero issues. I asked if they had taken it on the interstate and they said no, but they were able to get it up to 60mph on the back roads.
I called the shop today and I believe that they are very close to giving me my money back. To which my LC would have a rebuilt transmission, but still not functioning properly.
Does anyone have any ideas what this could be? Now that there's a rebuilt transmission in there, and all of these "transmission-like" issues are still happening, I'm wondering if it was never a transmission issue after all, but an electrical one? Has anyone experienced any of this before? Any ideas would be very helpful. Thanks all.
I've got a 2003 LC that I've owned for the last 5 years and am the second owner. It has 270k+ miles on it. It's been fantastic for 4.5 of those years but the last 6 months have been real tough for it.
A little over 3 months ago I was driving home from work when I noticed a clunk while leaving the parking lot, which then caused the check engine light along with VSC lights to come on. I decided to see if I could make it home (don't live far, about 15 minutes) without getting a tow. It was a rough trip - it was clunking all over the place. I realized on my 15 minute drive home that the clunk was mostly between 1st and 2nd. So, I was dreading any time I saw a stop light that was coming up. It would clunk while downshifting to 1st and then shifting up to 2nd once the light turned green. It was mostly smooth after passing 2nd and going into 3rd, 4th and 5th. I finally made it home, though.
I called my local mechanic and dropped it off for him to look at. He ran the codes which he said were coming back as transmission codes, I believe he said "slipping between __ and ___" (can't remember). He said he doesn't work on transmissions and recommended a local transmission shop. So, I took my car back and then about a week later drove it to the transmission shop and dropped it off after hours. Oddly enough, my ride down to the transmission shop (about 30 minutes on interstate and back roads), there was no clunking whatsoever - it's as if it never happened. The check engine light was still on, though.
The transmission shop called me about 10 days later (they were backed up) and confirmed basically what the first local mechanic said: "It's showing transmission codes, it's slipping between 4th and 5th..." and they recommended a transmission rebuild. So, I said yes. They said it would be 10-14 days for the rebuild.
Two weeks go by and they said that the transmission went in great but they were still experiencing electrical issues and that they would keep me posted.
A couple more weeks went by and then they called and said that they've "replaced all the electrics in the truck that they could think of" and then that the catalytic converter was so gunked up that the truck was down on power and they couldn't get a good test drive in, so they recommended they "knock out the ceramics" which of course would throw an O2 sensor code but would also help them get a test drive in. So, I agreed.
A couple more weeks went by and they said they are still having issues and the "last ditch effort" would be to replace the Engine Control Module. So they spent a couple weeks looking for one and finally found one that came in from NY. They had to program it when it got in so they had someone come and program it (I also had to go down there and drop off all my spare keys so they would all work after the reprogram).
I then got a call back a few days later saying that the vehicle was ready to be picked up and was running good.
I went and grabbed it at about 2:30pm on a Friday and started driving home. Everything was running great - check engine light was on (for the O2 sensor) but the transmission was shifting smoothly. It's a few miles of back roads until I get to the interstate. Once I get to the interstate, I get it up to 75mph and it's still running great. I then had to get off on an exit for a quick stop. After that, I went to get back on the interstate and while I was on the on ramp, in Drive, the truck totally slipped out of gear and my RPMs go soaring. No gear was engaged. I was basically in neutral. I was trying to get back on the interstate so I started riding the shoulder at about 40mph and dropped it down to 4th to see if that would help - it did. Somehow it found 4th and I kept it there and headed straight back to the transmission shop. I'm going 60 on the interstate in 4th so my RPMs are about 3,000 but at least it stayed in gear.
Once I got off the interstate, things got very clunky... it was worth then it was before I dropped it off. I'm in Drive now and after accelerating from every stop light it couldn't find the right gear to save it's life. My foot was almost all the way down just to accelerate from 0 - as if I was starting in 3rd or 4th. Then, at random times I would get my neck snapped back from it finding a gear and violently engaging that gear. It was all over the place. I finally made it back to the shop at about 3:30pm on Oct 27 and they have had it since. When I dropped it off I talked to a couple of the mechanics who had been working on it and they said that they had test drove the truck 30 miles before giving it back to me - with zero issues. I asked if they had taken it on the interstate and they said no, but they were able to get it up to 60mph on the back roads.
I called the shop today and I believe that they are very close to giving me my money back. To which my LC would have a rebuilt transmission, but still not functioning properly.
Does anyone have any ideas what this could be? Now that there's a rebuilt transmission in there, and all of these "transmission-like" issues are still happening, I'm wondering if it was never a transmission issue after all, but an electrical one? Has anyone experienced any of this before? Any ideas would be very helpful. Thanks all.
