Replacing Auto Transmission 4T65E

Well the tranny went on my girlfriends 99 intrigue. After a long day i was able to get the car back, i have access to a lift and am in the process of sourcing the transmission that i'll be picking up hopefully in the next day or two.

Symptoms: Drives fine for about 200 feet , then its as if you popped the car into neutral, revs up and down freely in response to the throttle with no regard to what gear is selected and is the same in Drive, Reverse or neutral. There is also a rattling noise coming from the transmission area. After letting the car "cool down" for 20 minutes it will let you move forward or back for another 100-200 feet.

My initial question is, when i get the replacement transmission does that typically include a torque converter? Or am i just going to use the original one and hope it wasn't an issue with it, but the transmission itself? Also any insight to the symptoms would be greatly appreciated - although i am prepared for the worst by looking for a new/low mileage transmission at this point.

One more thing - i have been looking all over for any guides or how to of dropping/replacing the transmission - it seems as if all of the PDF guides are no longer being hosted and the links are down. Anyone have one? Thanks guys.

I've personally been through 3 trannies myself. Every 89K miles, like clockwork. Your best bet is to try to find a decent one from a jy. I've been able to find one each time, about $4-500. Only way to replace is to drop the trans out from the bottom, and then install the new/used one. Unless you have one rebuilt specifically with all of the upgrades, (about $3K), plan on doing it again in about 80-90K miles. These trannies had weak soleinoids, clutches, etc. Also, they were the first electronically controlled transmissions that Hydra-Matic ever built for production, so they needed a lot of beefing up. I'm not saying that they were bad designs, but the fact that I went through 3 after the first was rebuilt gave me a clue that it wasn't my driving or the rest of the car, just saying. I finally sent mine to the jy at 320K miles, and a broken connecting rod... 5 years of service though!

My condolences! I was honestly considering scrapping the car but she can't afford getting anything else that would be any more reliable at this point, unfortunately. The car has made it to 140k with a few other issues but this is the first time the transmission has acted up, strange because there were no warning signs - it just started doing this.

Now, when you picked up another one from the junkyard - did it come with the torque converter or were you reusing your old one?

Does anyone know if there are differences between the 99 intrigue AT and the 00 intrigue AT? the transmission i'm looking at is from a 00.

Used the torque converter from the "new" tranny each time. As long as the '99 intrigue had the 3.5, the tranny should bolt right up. I had a '98, which had the 3.8, tranny was specific to the 3.8. my understanding is that the one for the 3.5 was made a little more robust. Hopefully, you can use the one you found...:jerking:
I actually love the car, always had plenty of pep, rode like a dream, handled great even in the snow. It was a black one, loaded except for the Bose, sunroof worked great, and it had the grey leather interior, not a scratch on it, the seats still worked great and not even a crack in the leather. it had the usual problems, radio would only play through the back speakers when it was below 70, (cold solder joints in the circuit board), heater would often act up, (could always fix by pulling the fuse and replacing), blower motor failed at 300K, replaced with a jy unit, wheel bearings(front) at about 200K. She always gave me about 25-30 mpg (except when the tranny was slipping). the A/C compressor went out about ever 100 K (always the shaft seal on the compressor), but all in all, over 150K miles that i had it, I probably spent $3 K on repairs after initial purchase from my brother of $2.5K. $5.5 K for 150K miles wasn't so bad. It even had the original exhaust on it! first car I ever had where the exhaust lasted beyond the car! Good Luck with it.

Wow i just checked the car and it has the "3800 Series II" engine? Which i'm assuming is the 3.8? In a 99????

Will the 00 3.5L tranny fit?

Have to start search all over again.

OH NO! What you've got is an early '99. (I used to work for GM as an engineer, just so you don't think I'm B.S.ing you). The Intrigue was supposed to be out of the box in '98 with the 3.5 "Shortstar", the 6 cylinder version of the Northstar. Unfortunately, we had trouble making it work right, so Olds decided to equip the '98 and early '99s with the 3.8. Actually, the 3.8 is probably a better engine in terms of reliability, although I am sure others will beg to differ. The problem with your gf's car is that you WILL have to find a 3.8 donor tranny. The trannies for the 3.5 and the 3.8 are different due to the mountings, physically on the case. Internally, they are similar, if not identical, however, you will have a hard time getting them to interchange, if at all. I suggest looking in a local jy as there are a lot of Intrigues out there that didn't make it very far, apparently they were popular as a rental car for a few years. The last one I had was about a 25 K unit, I paid $500 for it through my mechanic. Unfortunately, the engine died about 5K miles after I put it in...

Good Luck.

The trannies for the 3.5 and the 3.8 are different due to the mountings, physically on the case. Internally, they are similar, if not identical, however, you will have a hard time getting them to interchange, if at all.

Thank you for this very important insight - i had a 3.5 tranny all lined up! Gotta start all over again.

I just had mine rebuilt $2100.00. It was doing something similar. I got the car with 85k on it. Took it for a test drive it drove so smooth and 3 days later the shift selunoids blew. $700.00. 5 days after the 90 day warranty the whole tranny blew. It did exactly what yours is doing. I guess the reason it went unnoticed is because when the trans slips the tranny pc spits out a code.
(i had like 3 Codes) The pressure regulator increases the pressure in the tranny in attempt to correct the slipping or hard shifting. The effect of that would make the problem virtually unnoticable. I had to have the force clutch, pressure regulator, and some hose that was inside of it had burst, and 2nd gear i think and a bunch of other little things. I only noticed it after I had been driving my car for about 3 hours the first time it went out, But because I hadn't ever really drove my car for that long it went unnoticed. I wouldnt worry about the transmission blowing as frequently as remark123 had said. I have 2 Intrigues both have been through hell and back. My 99 has 160k on it NEVER had a tranny issue its had 2 fluid flushes on it and went through 2 teen drivers,my dad and my mom who still drives it daily. My 02 I bought used with the tranny issue (it was a repo). However I did not know it was bad until after completion of sale and now it is fixed and works great. Best bet just bite the bullet. Your girlfriend has a decent car with a few quirks. If you find a good used lower mileage tranny for cheap and it lasts for the time she has the car for you got your moneys worth out of it.

If remark123 is going through transmissions like that they probably are not being rebuilt or replaced properly. If rebuilt the shop or "rebuilder" may not be repairing the actual problem.

I think not. As I stated in the original post, the '98 transmissions were indeed under-engineered for the duty. This transmission was the first wholly ECM controlled transmission, and is well known in automotive repair areas for it's unreliable solenoids, clutch packs, programming, etc. I had the original transmission rebuilt, to the tune of $2300 or so, the transmission shop told me at the time that it would probably blow again, but I figured that they were trying to cover the expense that I underwent. 90K miles later, it blew up again. After that, I just put used trannies in the car, no sense in throwing any more "rebuilt" tannies in there! In '99, when they introduced the 3.5, they did release several upgrades to the clutch packs, and solenoids, as well as a re-program of the software that helped, but did not eliminate the problem. How do I know this? I worked for GM during most of the time I owned this car, and I had several engineering buddies at Hydra-Matic, who explained the problems to me. I'm not complaining, but please don't tell me that the transmissions were not rebuilt properly, or that they weren't installed properly. The General was responsible for the design that was not "robust" enough to take the usage. It happens in the automotive industry, look at where Toyota is right now. 30 years of automotive engineering from design to production, to reliabilty experience has taught me that. I am only giving you the benefit of what I have learned, if you don't want to recognize it, so be it. Enough said!

Mark

If you look at the history of this forum you will see the earliest problems with the Intrigue were the 4T65e and the 3.5L alternators.

I honestly thought my tranny would go at 40k-60k-80k also, but I made it to 117k and I feel the sun gear (OD) should have failed by now if it was weak.

Many of the earlier Intrigue owners went thru a few (2-3) trannies while still under warranty. <3yrs/36,000 miles.

I thought my tranny was going out due to it shifting really hard. Someone on the forum told me to start by cleaning the MAP sensor by the air filter and replace the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor).

After cleaning everything and installing the TPS, my hard shifting has stopped. I am just closing in on 90 k with my 2000, 3.5 liter GLS.

Just wanted to post an update - the car has been sold so we've moved on but in case someone finds this thread while searching for solutions:

Upon further investigation we found that a CEL code was stored - P0742. If you google it alot of information comes up, and the symptoms match the code perfectly. It's the torque converter clutch solenoid stuck on. Sometimes it's cleared with a flush/lucas/seafoam oil treatment, sometimes you just need to replace the solenoid but this still requires dropping the transmission just to get to it - we chose not to mess with it and let the new owners put the TLC in to get her running again.

Regardless the buyer was happy, and so were we - moved on to a Volvo 850 Wagon - found a great deal on a one-owner gem. Thanks for all your advice guys.