Transmission Acting Weird

[00Caddy]

Hey guys,

So... Having a weird issue in my 2000 Cadillac Escalade. Everything was great, until i had the cruise set and a rather large hill came up. I usually get out of cruise and just let it go up the hill with moderate gas, instead of the cruise on and it downshifts into 3rd pretty hard. Just trying to be easy on the transmission and car in general. So this time i didnt do what i normally do, which is the get out of cruise part... I left it in and let it downshift, halfway up the large hill i clicked the brake and I had no accelaration. It downshifted to 3rd, RPMs climbed to 3500 rpms, but the speed kept slowing down. It finally got up the hill, road leveled out, but i had very light acceleration even though i was at 3000 rpm or so... I pulled over at a gas station, and checked fluid, it was red, didnt smell burnt, and it was perfect on the dipstick. So i kept the car on, cycled through every gear multiple times (10 or more). Reverse seemed to be a tad bit louder than normal, but i did have the door open and most times i switch to reverse the door is never open, so that could have been my culprit of a loud reverse engagement. Got back on the road and everything seemed fine after that. Get to my destination which was an hour away from where i had the problem, dropped my friend off at his place, drove to my house and noticed that the car feels sluggish through all gears, like a complete loss of power. Shifts fine, drives fine, sounds fine, just not the power i had before.

There was no sound of anything breaking, no leaking fluid, no CEL lights, nothing. Just a weird transmission issue and a loss of power. It almost feels like what people refer to limp mode.

Any ideas?

I know the story is long, didnt know how else to explain it with a short sentence.... So i apologize for the long story.

Thanks in advance guys.

Nick

 

[Tahoechick89]

Hey guys,

So... Having a weird issue in my 2000 Cadillac Escalade. Everything was great, until i had the cruise set and a rather large hill came up. I usually get out of cruise and just let it go up the hill with moderate gas, instead of the cruise on and it downshifts into 3rd pretty hard. Just trying to be easy on the transmission and car in general. So this time i didnt do what i normally do, which is the get out of cruise part... I left it in and let it downshift, halfway up the large hill i clicked the brake and I had no accelaration. It downshifted to 3rd, RPMs climbed to 3500 rpms, but the speed kept slowing down. It finally got up the hill, road leveled out, but i had very light acceleration even though i was at 3000 rpm or so... I pulled over at a gas station, and checked fluid, it was red, didnt smell burnt, and it was perfect on the dipstick. So i kept the car on, cycled through every gear multiple times (10 or more). Reverse seemed to be a tad bit louder than normal, but i did have the door open and most times i switch to reverse the door is never open, so that could have been my culprit of a loud reverse engagement. Got back on the road and everything seemed fine after that. Get to my destination which was an hour away from where i had the problem, dropped my friend off at his place, drove to my house and noticed that the car feels sluggish through all gears, like a complete loss of power. Shifts fine, drives fine, sounds fine, just not the power i had before.

There was no sound of anything breaking, no leaking fluid, no CEL lights, nothing. Just a weird transmission issue and a loss of power. It almost feels like what people refer to limp mode.

Any ideas?

I know the story is long, didnt know how else to explain it with a short sentence.... So i apologize for the long story.

Thanks in advance guys.

Nick

Hi Nick,

Have you had an issue with hills since?

In most cases, when you hit a hill and your RPMs are still climbing but there's a lack of power, it generally indicates the transmission is on it's way out, especially if it's not kicking down properly. However, if it's fine leveled out, it may just be the T converter.