No 2nd gear or reverse

[VTCommoDude]

My VT **** itself. I have never done a burn-out or anything. But now it has no 2nd gear or reverse. I took it around to a few mechanics and they said it needed a new transmission. Two said they could replace a broken shaft that can strip on new and old commodores.

Has anyone heard of this happening? I know mechanics like to pull apart transmission, then suddenly charge thousands for 'new problems' or leave your car in pieces. I want to make sure this is the issue.

[Jbird]

ive never heard of it happening, but if u were to fix it get a new box because if they try and look for the problem it could end up costing u more. Once ur old box is out u can try and fix the problem and sell it to make up for the lost cash. Good luck

[sv9946]

if you have no 2nd, no 4th and no reverse i can almost guarantee you have a broken sun gear shell.....

they are very common to break in the 4l60-e. sometimes they strip the teeth off the inside, and sometimes the break the toothed part right off the actual shell. they're the weakest link in the chain almost when it comes to 4l60-e's. there is stronger ones on the market. by putting a stronger one in, it will not at all change the charactaristics of the transmission at all.

unfortunately a fair bit of dissassembly is required to get at it, and most automatic shops simply won't do a patch up and just replace the shell. as generally soon after something else will fail, and it will leave that particular shop copping the blame.

i myself will just replace the shell if someone only wants that done, i do however pull the transmission apart, show them the general condtion of the gearbox and explain what it all means to them in simple terms. from there the choice is up to them. i just explain what is close to failing, and what it should cost if they wanna replace it.

sometimes i can show them how the next thing is so close to failing, and they'll ask for it to be fully rebuilt, with the 3 year guarantee i provide. others will simply ask for it to be put together with only the shell replaced, and hence i provide no warranty

either way, that job requires the transmission to come out, and pulled apart roughly half way for the shell to be replaced

good luck mate, hope this answers your question

[Zeussy]

heyy mate,with my vy commodore i used to thrash it pretty hard quite often and something similar happen to it, i think it was first and reverse was goone wouldnt try n select it , no grinding or anything, just not there, i thought i blew the box or something.. and all it turned out to be was the shift solenoid, a dude a work had the same thing happen to his and he told me about it, i think it was like 60bucks or something installed, go to a auto specialist and mention the shift solenoid, see what they rekon,

[Zeussy]

heyy vtcommodude, just wondering how you went with your gearbox???

[VTCommoDude]

Most mechanics told me to put in a new gear box, but one guy said it was the teeth that crack off. I am getting a new heavy duty plate put in this week. That plus service is about $800.
I gave it a bit to get ahead of some cars on the highway, which is probably what eventually busted it.

[Zeussy]

ahh kk, sweet, that sucks about the pricetag, but it could've been worse i spose... hope you dont have anymore troubles with her mate..

take it easy...

[VTCommoDude]

Final figure was $775 for a heavy duty part and with a service; bloody good compared to the $2000-$2200 some mechanics wanted to put a whole new gear box in. They would have probably just fixed it and charged me the extra.

Took it to Pier St Mechanical in Urangan. He was really good.

[TUF UTE]

every commo ive had ... when the reverse gear dies you need to start looking at new transmissions haha