I have a 1988 Iroc-Z Camaro. The other day I was going to pick up a friend from his work place when I stopped at a red light. I went to take off again and it jumped up to 5k RPM and scared the crap out of me. I quickly realized that it wasn't shifting and kept my RPMs at or below 3k going 30mph or so home..it sucked..hard. It would still shifter from park to reverse and neutral and drive but not out of first. So I checked the transmission fluid and put more into it after I quickly discovered that it was either empty or low(I dunno why....). I put more transmisson fluid into it and hoped that would fix it. I went down the road a bit...and still didn't shift. I don't know much of anything about tranmissons and I cant find anyone with a similar problem. What could be wrong now? Someone told me something about a transmission filter...could that be it?

Auto right?
How much millage?
Has your Transmission been ever rebuilt?
OK do check the filter, I know that is a filter many people do not check often could be clogged up and from the sound that it didn't work after you replaced the fluid that it is clogged.

Worst case
Your Transmission needs to be rebuilt or rebuild it yourself, Could be that with out the lubrication in the tran that something broke

I wasn't aware that a 700r4 was anything except an Auto sorry about that. And as far as I know it has never been rebuilt and if it hasn't it should have approx 120k miles on it.

I don't know much of anything about the cars history because they guy I bought it from was just going to put a LS1 in it and be happy. But he started to move and couldn't take the care with him so he sold it to me and I didn't bother to ask about the history. (Its my first Camaro. I should be going to pick up my second one tomorrow)

OK just check filter 1st $10 for a new one, no need to spend big money to find it was just the filter. I got my Transmission rebuilt around 150k, But as I put in my edit it's a worst case thing.

I'm currently rebuilding mine for the same reason...
i burned up the 3&4 clutches though. I can run through first and second, but when it tries to shift into 3rd it's like you dropped it into neutral.

It happened getting onto I-20 a week ago scared the hell outa me too, pulled over...no transmission fluid and that nice burnt smell.

We pulled the trans this weekend and pulled the pan off it. burnt pieces of the clutches everywhere.

put the dipstick in and pull it back out, then smell it. does it smell burnt at all?

A rebuild kit'll run you in the range of 100-200 if you do it yourself. you could also send it to a shop or pick up a rebuilt one.

if you put the trans into drive and it doesnt shift into second, it's your spider gear in the side of your tranny. you can change it out yourself in no time flat and you may not get dirty.

My 91 RS is doing something similar. It will shift from 1st to 2nd jsut fine, but when it is supposed to switch to 3rd it just revs up to about 5k or more if I don't take my foot off the gas.

I checked the tranny fluid and the dipstick wasn't showing any signs of fluid at all. Picked up some tranny fluid and put almost the whole bottle in and it's still showing no signs of fluid in the tranny, but there's no fluid in the driveway... where the hell is the fluid going and why won't this thing shift? lol.

Not trying to steal the thread or anything, but this is the exact topic I need help with and if anyone has any info on the problem, please, post it up. Thanks.

3-4 clutches or piston-engine revvs when shifting into third. sorry.. removal is necessary to fix it dying young.
nas feak-check the simple stuff first, t.v. cable needs to be hooked up always with no exception, fluid full while engine is running in park, governor for broken teeth or stuck valve(requires removing the little cover near the rear of the trans on the drivers side. If none of these it's more serious.