I'm taking my IROC to a local, highly recommended tranny shop, and I was wondering what could be expected with the problems I have...basically, in terms of labor (cost). Would this be a big cost job?

'86 IROC-Z Tuned Port 5.0L w/ 700-R4.

• Detent Cable (Tranny was rebuilt by someone else just before I bought thie car. I was told by my mechanic, it only allows the throttle to go down 3/4 & it looks to be the wrong cable. He mentioned there was RTV on top of the tranmission by the detent cable. Why would you need RTV there? Bad sign?)

• Gears for speedometer (cable is there & works, but the gears in tranny isn't)

• I had driven the car with the detent cable unhooked for a couple months. I was told this could cause damage. I put it back on. My fluid still appears to be only red and doesn't smell burnt. I checked this from the dipstick.
What are the chances I caused damage? I'm driving the car out of town a good distance, and the last thing I want are problems. Is it difficult for the tranny shop to investigate this, without a large sum of labor (time)?

Any help, or past experiances you can share are greatly appreciated.

 

yeah..thanks for the advice.

 

ROC-Z
I can only guess when the tranny was rebuilt, they used the wrong cable, most likely for a tbi car. The only reason I can see for RTV being on or around where the cable goes into the trans would be to prvent leakage but these seem to seal good and dont need any. (does not sound to professional) If your trans isnt slipping now or doing anything weird I would at least get this part fixed RIGHT AWAY! The cable is aboout $35.00 from GM last time I bought one and they only take a short time to install, especially if you have a lift. I cant see the shop charging more than an hour time to replace it as I have done these on my back in the driveway in under that. Also the speedo gears are pretty easy to do also. If you were getting charged more than 2 hours for both jobs, Find a different shop.
Good luck,
Tony

 

Tony,

Hey- thanks for taking some time to help me here.
Your right, it doesn't sound professional at all. Areas in the engine wiring harness was butchered too- so I'm not at all surprised by the RTV on top of the tranny.
I've put a lot of money into the car professional correcting everything- If it hadn't been for the potential in the car, I don't think I would have gone this far with it.

When I bought it the:
Interior was mint, exterior needed paint, and they couldn't figure out why the Tuned Port 5.0 wouldn't run right.

Later:
A new fuel pump, replaced butchered wiring, and various new sensors, and the car runs great. Initially paid $700 for the 79,000 mi '86 IROC-Z. Now I've got $3K in it, plus being professionally painted next week. It'll be worth it to me though, even if I will end up having more than blue book value in it.

Thanks again Tony!

Corey