More help please? Tranny problems this time.

[Bin_jammin]

So after all the rapid and good advice I got the other day, I assembled my car (mostly, enough to try driving it) and took it around my usual test route at the shop. The car seemed a bit sluggish pulling out, and didn't like shifting into second gear. Finally hit about 40mph, and it started slipping. As I was already more than 1/2way into my trip I figured I'd go the whole loop instead of turning around. Well, needless to say it didn't get any better. It got to the point where on a hill it wouldn't move anymore. First gear was the only one that held at all, and even that was pretty terrible.

Before the top of the hill, the car wouldn't move at all. I ended up rolling backwards into a business's parking lot, and the ground there was level. I popped the hood, and I could hear a whooshing sound coming from the bellhousing area, that's a new one for me, and I've been fixing cars for a long time. It almost sounded like waves crashing, except that it took a lot longer. The cooling lines were hot, so I know I was getting flow. I shut the car off for a couple minutes, and just sat. Started the car again, put it in first, and it went. I was only maybe a 1/4 mile from the shop at this point, so I kept it in first and limped back, not wanting to risk anything else.

Now, the TRANS PROGRAM error message never showed up, and the car seemed like it was running alright the whole time. The car is a 1990 e34 535, the engine and tranny are out of a 1988 32. I didn't notice any difference between the two trannies when they were out. I DID take the bellhousing off the tranny, and took apart the a-clutch pack to inspect it. All the clutches looked fine with no appreciable wear. The stator is a hardened version, and the seals had nominal wear. It was put back together with a new paper gasket and put in the car with no real issues.

So, anyone care to tackle this one? Any details I've left out?

[Dr. evil]

So after all the rapid and good advice I got the other day

what was the advice??

[Bin_jammin]

I had asked for help in diagnosing my car not running, and I had replaced damn near everything. Turns out to have been a bad coolant temp switch.

[Ferret]

This might sound like an extremely dumb question, but you did fill the fluid levels on the gearbox with the engine running?

If you're getting a rythmic whooshing noise from the torque convertor/pump I'd suggest low fluid as it's draining the sump - running dry for a sec and then the fluid dumps back into the sump and it's off again.

From what I remember - arent these 4 speeds purely mechanical boxes? If so they wont throw a Trans Program cos they've no diagnostic kit in em?

[Bin_jammin]

No, the 4hp22 is electronically controlled. And you're right, it DOES sort of sound like the torque converter filling and emptying, but it's full. I took the pan down to change the fluid when I installed it in the car along with the engine, and refilled it with 3 or 4 quarts just to start, then later on when I got the car running I added more while it was running, until it was full. The stick says it's full too, and it hasn't burped at all to make the level on the stick drop, so I'm pretty confident that it's actually full.

I'm starting to think that my front pump might be dead, making and losing pressure. I'm prepping my spare tranny with 231k on it to go in the car. Not the ideal solution, but if it shifts it's already got a leg up on this thing.