Well my motor/tranny has never had problems before, so this just came out of nowhere. but i was 3 hours into a 15 hour drive from IL to MD and i attempted to pass a semi so i gave it some gas but then i noticed it wouldnt shift into 3rd and it just stayed at 6000-6500 rpms. I thought maybe i was in 2nd gear but then i pushed it all the way forward into Neutral just to be sure, but then when i put it back in drive(while im still going like 60-65) it was just reving up, it never caught a gear. So i pulled over to the side of the road and put it in park and put it back in gear and it now will only drive in 1st gear in Drive or OD. And will only get to 2nd gear when its on "2". Is that fixable? Or am i going to have to get it rebuilt.

But in my desperate attempt to get back on the road i paid pennzoil 120 bucks to change my transmission fluid, but i did notice the oil was pitch black and smelled burnt, almost like smoke. sound like a rebuild? thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like a rebuild to me - sorry.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear that. My friend had a Firebird and the same problem... was driving it and all of a sudden it started revving, except his wouldn't grab any gears. Reverse was the only functional gear. I think you're definitely looking at a rebuild. Luckily, they are pretty reasonable, and you get a lot of piece of mind when you do one. If you pull the transmission out yourself and bring it in, most shops with charge under $1,000 to do a bench build for you, and all shops include new "shift kits" in their rebuilds that are supposedly better than the stock shift kit. I can't confirm that it's really much better, as I have never had to have mine rebuilt, but my new car needs a new transmission, and there was a shop that would do it locally for $700. It really helps if you shop around! Good luck!

There is also the option of picking one up in a yard or from a member on here! Many people on here have parts, I can imagine someone picking up one here for $300-400 used.

 

If cash is tight, you could also consider just swapping in another used tranny. In my area, I can get used 700R4's for about $300. No telling how long another used one would last, could be a week, could be several years. But they generally come with a 90 day warranty. And then your tranny will be out, ready for a bench rebuild whenever your funds get better. Not that anyone wants to do a tranny swap just to buy themselves a couple months, but when cash is tight, you do what ya gotta do.

 

Cash isnt really tight, but i was just hoping to make it home where ive saved up enough money to do a v6-v8 swap. not really that motivated to spend all that money on the 2.8. A junkyard tranny sounds pretty good right now just so i can make it home and not spend so much money.

Thanks alot everyone that replied