my shift light is coming on in my car, and it looks like the guage is getting stuck around 3k rpm. The transmission FEELS fine, its shifting gears fine from one to another, definately dosent feel like something wrong there. Is there a sensor that makes this shift light come on ? I have an automatic trans, whats the shift light for anyway when the trans shifts itself ? I have the 1988 GTA 5.7 with digital dash. Does this mean there is a problem somewhere, or do I need to replace some type of sensor ? HELP {PLEASE}

Chris

The shift light was never installed at the factory in automatic cars. If you put one in, it will light when the TCC locks.

This is the factory dash in my car, the DIGITAL dash for 1988. It has a shift light built in , in the corner near the tach. I have circled it in YELLOW in the photo.When it lights, it is a yellow arrow pointing up and says SHIFT..... I wondered what this area was , until it lit up recently while driving ! It only did it for a moment, while the car was cold... then quit. Noticed it again yesterday when I drove the car. The tach seems to get stuck around 3000 rpm ( yellow arrow ) and shift light comes on in the corner and stays on, even during tranny shifting from first to second..... It turns off for a second, then comes back on.. kind of like a short or something ? ?
I parked it until I can find out more..


ow and apeirion, what is a TCC ?

TCC= Torque Converter Clutch aka Lockup Converter

Aperion is right, the shift light does not work on an auto car. It is there to report problems with the engine. If it is coming on, the computer is telling you that you have a problem. You need to check the codes to see what is wrong. If you do not have a scan tool or code reader and do not know how to read the codes by shorting the pins in the ALDL port, go to this link

https://www.thirdgen.org/service-eng...ht-error-codes

Good luck.

OK.. thanks for that link, I will try.. but FIRST,
those instructions say

Run a wire/hairpin from Pin 6 to Pin 12 with the ignition off (although on later cars it should be from Pin 5 to Pin 6),

with my car being 1988 should I do 6 and 12, or 5 and 6 ?
also, Can I mess anything up by jumping the wrong pins ?

the location of this 12 pin DLC connector IS the one under my steering wheel , to the right ? correct ?

I have never noticed my check engine light even come on, but hopefully it does work and will flash some code when I try this.

Should I disconnect the battery and try to clear the codes FIRST ?

thanks

Chris

Follow the instructions, and if it doesn't work, try the other. DO NOT disconnect the battery until you have gotten all the codes. You should get three series of "12"s then your actual codes then "12"s again.

I actually don't do this to get the codes except in "jam" when I don't have my scan tool.