Stuck in 3rd Gear

[qwertyjustin]

Hey All,

Hoping you can help.

My 1998 VT V6 is running in what seems to be 3rd gear, when going 100 along the highway. i noticed because the revs used to sit on about 2k when at 100, but now they sit on about 2.6k.

Although when i back off throttle the rpms drop back to about 1.5 - 1.7k, as if it were idling along how it used to in 4th gear.

The first time i noticed it about a week ago - i just restarted the engine, and it was back to low revs, but then this didnt last long, and jumped back up again and now is contantly reaching the 2.6k rev mark when going on the highway.

Hope u can help me diagnose soon, my guess is the computer chip needs resetting?


Cheers

justin

 

[davway]

its called limp home mode - look it up and take the car to Holden.

 

[HARVZ-6]

i have a vt super6

mine does/did the exact same thing.. soon as the trans got hot.. ie hot days, hard driving or towing.. you lose the converter lockup..
from what i learnt its the heat override from excessive slipping chances are the computer has logged a fault of trans slippage as myne did


when was the last time it was serviced? an how many ks has it done?

im fixin the problem by puttin another trans in which im half way through as we speak but my trans was nearly nacked anyway..

 

[qwertyjustin]

Yeah well, it only every goes upto third gear, even on cold starts. Way overdue for a service. Cars got 144k on the clock,..

 

[chargedvx6]

Are you sure it actually uses 1st and 2nd still? If it gets stuck at 3rd that usually means it's in limp home which allows only 3rd. Might be a valve body issue

 

[qwertyjustin]

yeah it definately changes through first second and upto third at highest on highways..

 

[dazza33]

Same problem, took it to Auto Trans Place and the error code suggested the torque converter was slipping and also mentioned it would be going into LHM. Did change through to 4th initially until hot then back to 3rd. Was still able to get 1st and 2nd though. I just chose to get a S/H unit with low k's and fit it. All good now!