hi, i have a 1990 gto auto non turbo version. it is sticking in top gear and when driven, after a while makes an awful noise like an aircraft taking off. the only way to stop this noise is to come to an almost complete stop then it clunks and is ok again. this happens randomly so is not continuous, however the stuck in top gear is continuous. my partner has stripped and rebuilt the gearbox but has found absolutely nothing wrong with it. i have recently bought another 1990 auto gto with a siezed engine to make a good one out of the two, but it seems such a shame to scrap one as they are both in excelent condition other than the specified problems. any help would be greatly appriciated.

sounds like you may have a bad transmission computer. I would try swapping them out first and see if it shifts normally again. It is located in the center console behind the radio. It's laying flat.

ok thanks, will check it out. regards S....

Also may wanna check the tq converter. Wifes intrepid had the same problem, thats what it ended up being.

hi, we have since found out the power transfer box was missing a bearing due to it having no oil and burning out (it was bought in this condition, i didn't do it lol. so we have ressolved the horrible noise it was making. we have taken the engine and gearbox from the one that was stuck in top gear and transferred it to the other one which had the blown up engine ( it also destroyed the gearbox when it siezed and this was not my doing either). now we also changed the cpu for the gearbox which cleared up a buzzing noise that was coming from the gearbox. however we now have no drive at all ( we checked this with two cpu boxes and still have no drive). we have change the valve plate and the solenoid to no avail. it seems as if there is no gearbox there at all, apart from the fact the engine changes tone when gears are shifted however there is no movement. the next thing my partner is checking is the oil pressures at the different points for differing gear changes although he is not holding out any hopes of ressolving it here as he did not strip out any of the valves. we have checked the linkage which is fine. the torque converter is fine and the oil pump was ok when it was installed. any ideas from anyone else would be more than welcome at this point.

Are you sure the torque converter was all the way into the trans before installing it? Sounds like that may be your problem. Does reverse work at all?

hmmm, ok hanz gzp this sounds interesting as we have no oil pressure in the gearbox at all. is it possible to locate the gearbox onto the engine (with the t/c in place) and the t/c not be engaged in the gearbox yet bolted up properly to the engine, and the gearbox located properly to the engine? one would have thought that they would not have joined properly. the bit that throws this slightly is that upon starting it up the first time, the car did move forwards a little (it even moved forward slightly whilst in reverse which was even more bizzare) but stopped moving at all in forward or reverse after about 2 feet. the engine is sweet and there appears nothing wrong with it. the t/c is spinning too as it is connected to the engine and has been observed to be turning through the dirt cover hole right at the bottom of the gearbox. (the metal flashing that protects the bellhousing from picking up dirt and rubbish). if it were to be this, would the gearbox need to be removed again to check this or is there another way to confirm either way? thanks S......

It is possible for the tc to not engage the oil pump of the trans and still be bolted up. If that is the case, it can cause damage to the tc and to the oil pump in the trans. I would pull the trans and have those parts inspected.

hi again,
my partner has played with the broken gearbox and put the t/c into it on the bench. the one on the car definately looks like it is not located as far into the bell housing as the one on the bench (by about a finger thickness). so thank you for the advice. the next question is...... can it be pushed into place without removing the gearbox again? (he has removed it and put it back so many times now between both cars he is getting a little irritated with the process, coz he is working outside in all weather and the uk is not so good on sun this year lol). any help i am sure he would appriciate, thanks, sue.

just noticed you replied whilst i was typing lol. ok thank you very much, we look to be closer than we anticipated. i hope it is all good in there, i guess we will find out and let you know. thank you again, regards, sue.