2001 Grand Am Transmission Problems??

[Lancealot]

Hey, I'm new on here.

Anyway, I'm posting because of a recent problem on my 3.4 Grand Am. I noticed that when I accelerate real fast that I no longer gain any speed. The rpms will reach about 2500 and the car will make a loud screeching/whistling sound, like metal on metal. It stays in the gear I am in (automatic transmission mind you) when I first start driving from park, but when I let off the gas, it switches to the next gear. It only does this until about 45 to 50 mph, where after that, it will no longer accelerate unless I'm going really slow on the gas or downhill. Anyone having an idea of what it is or what to start with would be a great help. Thanks.

 

[melsg5]

Do you have a check engine light? If the transmission was slipping the RPM would go much higher without the car gaining speed. The fact that you have metal on metal sound means you should stop driving the car before you do more damage. In park, if you increase engine speed to 2,500 RPM do you hear the noise? Beyond that it is difficult to diagnose your problem over the internet. It could be a internal transmission or engine problem or something external on the engine.

 

[Lancealot]

Thanks for the advice. Yes the check engine light is on and the metal to metal will not sound when I rev it in park. I figured it was something more complicated that couldn't get resolved over the internet but I thought Id shoot it in the air.

 

[melsg5]

take it to autozone and have the code scanned, they do it for free. Is the noise coming from the front, back, left, right?

______________________________

 

[USAF99]

Since it does not make the sound in park, and at the same speed every time (which sounds like between 2-3rd) my best educated guess would be transmission valving issues. Try the cheapest first (flush and fill) and after that probably move on to a transmission shop. Im not sure of these transmissions, but I would be willing to bet either a plugged valve body is letting stuff contact other stuff when its not supposed to, or a band has snapped/loosened.