okay this is kinda off topic or a stupid question that i am asking, but my cousin has a 1991 firebird and it has a 305 in it. But when he puts it into drive it takes like 5 seconds to go into gear. It has some sorta delay thing. I dont know if this is a sign of a bad transmission or anything. Oh and the car has 92,000 on it. so if you anyone knows what this is or is this just how they are.

 

When was the last time it was serviced? Sounds like a nearly clogged filter to me.

 

well ill have to ask him when that last time it was serviced but he just bought the car this fall, like 4 months ago and he has put about 1000 miles on the car since he had it because he put it away right when he got it, due to the snow. But i know that the car was never abused really so i dont think that the tranny is bad. I mean it was my neighbors car and she is a girls and isnt a fast or hard driver.

 

I know that this is going to sound sexist or mysogynistic, but women are the worst about maintaining a car. The likelyhood that the trans has ever been serviced is slim. It should recieve a new filter and fluid every 30,000 miles. At this point I would advise a complete transmission flush combined with a new filter and fluid. It's really the only way to get all the metal and clutch material out of the trans. Have them drop the pan first and scrape out all the sludge, which is probably about a 1/2" thick. Simply dropping the pan and replacing the filter and lost fluid won't get everything out of the trans. That's my recommendation.

 

alright thanks TKOPerformance
I will talk to him sometime this week and maybe that can be something we can do this weekend. And yeah i see what u mean with the women and servicing cars.

 

No problem. Good luck with it. Let me know how it turns out.

 

Hey TKO, or anyone else. Is it hard to change the filter and flush the trany yourself? or how much do you expect a shop to charge for that? thanks.

 

Changing the filter is no problem, just messy. Shops usually charge about $150 to flush and refill the trans and change the filter. I've heard of people talking about flushing a trans yourself, but I've never tried it. The shops that do it have machines that cost thousands of dollars, so I'd rather just have them do it and know that it was right rather than trying to rig something up and do it at home. It isn't cheap, but compared to the cost of a new or rebuilt trans it's a bargain.

 

all right, thanks for the info.