The 1985 FWD Cadillacs weren't just saddled with a ticking timebomb of an engine with the 4100 HT V8, they were also stuck with a garbage glass FWD transmission.
My dad had an 87 Coupe DeVille with the 4100 HT that he got cheap from the Salvation army back in 04 and we quickly realized why it was so cheap. We ended up junking it. Sucks cause the body was in such great shape.
That's true. I adjusted the cable on mine to switch to 3rd (last gear) around 30mph (45kph). I don't know how high it was set to switch before, but I didn't like the idea that the engine should regularly rev up to 4k RPM just to switch to the last gear.
That's true, at least for the 3T40 (TH125). I adjusted the cable on mine to switch to 3rd (last gear) around 30mph (45kph). I don't know how high it was set to switch before, but I didn't like the idea that the engine should regularly rev to over 4k RPM just to switch to the last gear.
i have a 2022 manual subaru crosstrek. CVT's are god awful to repair. manuals should still have a place but the EPA is forcing their demise, i get 30 MPG with that manual.
I had a 1990 Lumina Van with a 125C trany and a 3.1 engine. Changed trany fluid every 50,000 km’s. Engine oil every 10,000 km’s along with a tuneup and coolant change every 50,000 km’s. Lock up solenoid gave up at 415,000 km’s. I replaced solenoid. Scrap out the van at 456,000 km’s the A/C condenser give up 1 year before and the rear trailing arm spring plates where rusting out. Van was 8 years old when I bought it. Drove it 20 years sent to wreckers in 2018. Was a very reliable vehicle low cost to maintain. Good luck getting a new vehicle to last that long now. This vehicle was driven in the land of salt and snow in southern Ontario. The only saving grace with this vehicle it was oil sprayed every year. That’s why it lasted so long.
I also have this van, exact same specs. It's been two years since I've managed to make the engine run, it still does run but only runs decent after it reached operating temperature (more than 70-80°C). Until then, it won't have the power to surpass 3k RPM or 40kph (30mph). I changed fuel filter, spark plugs, spark plug cables (the latter two increased the reached RPM a bit). I'm thinking it might just be a fuel problem, the fuel pump to be more exact. I inspected it and the connecting short rubber hose and it's not cracked... But I will replace it anyway. It seems strange that the engine runs decently only when it's warm.
@@soupflood Check the fuel pressure regulator, pull the vacuum line off it while it's running and see if the diaphragm is leaking fuel into the vacuum line.
@@ethanlindsey the fuel pressure regulator doesn't have a vacuum line (it's a TBI without vacuum line). I tried adjusting the regulator spring to push more on the diaphragm, no change (except it started to leak a tiny bit from the diaphragm). I'm not sure if a (clapped out) fuel pump could run better when the engine is warm.
We had a few 125C cars and a few 440T4 - but only after they became the 4T60. The 125C cars all had the stuck torque converter solenoid and we just unplugged the solenoid and drove the car without lockup. Ran just fine and never an 'overheat' problem so many people screamed about. Never saw a dip in gas mileage either. Those little torque converters were rather tight so there was never enough slip to warm them up into the red zone.
After my Pontiac GOOLIE torque converter clutch got stuck on a few times (only after 10 or more miles of driving), I disconnected the wire on the front of the trans case and did without lockup for the remainder of my ownership. I saw a cow-orker that lived nearby stop at a traffic light and by the motions of the vehicle I knew his J2000 was experiencing a stuck-on converter clutch. At work the next day I told him that I had noticed his predicament and I shared my work-around with him. I'll have to ask him if he ever fully repaired it or if he just drove without converter lock-up from then on.
Had a 93 Ciera with the 3.3 V6 and the 125C. My dad bought it off our neighbor with 63000 miles on it in 2009. I bought from him in 2013. When the transmission went out, my uncle figured it, pulled the driver side tire off, got in there and fixed it. He told me the solenoid was bad. Didnt need a rebuild and I was happy. Love that car. 😊
I'm currently running a 1990 Cavalier with the 2.2 and a THM125C. It has 102,000 miles and has been quite dependable. I've change the fluid and filter twice , and replaced the TCC solenoid several years ago. It's an easy fix once the left front wheel is removed.
when I was in school a kid had a chevy corsica with I believe one of these, He would floor it in reverse going backwards than drop it in drive to break the tires loose and then do these impressive rolling burnouts....
A lifetime ago, I had a friend do that a few times in a 66 Impala 2 dr hardtop with a 327 powerglide. As I recall, it was about the fourth or fifth time doing that when it failed badly. He replaced it with a Turbo 350 and treated that one a lot better.😅
@@markchapmon8670 the Powerglide is used in drag racing. Properly built, it’s almost indestructible. Stock, well, your friend found the hardware limit of abuse
The torque converter selinoid could be unplugged and your problem would be solved you'll just have less fuel economy. Learned that trick a long time ago.
I was a part time grease monkey for a group that had GM cars in the 70's and 80's. I know that doesn't mean much technically speaking. The 125C was a very good transaxle. The owners/users of the vehicles always drove the cars like they stole them. The only problem I ever had was that the Throttle valve cables would stretch. Replaced quite a few of those. Other than that, changed out the filter at 60,000 miles. Never any problems The cars themselves, were Chevy's and Olds. X and "Midsize." All had the optional V6 engines. Good fuel economy 22 city/ 27 Hwy. Not EPA bullcrap numbers, actual. Thanks for the video. As always, great work!
Surprisingly i never had a problem with a GM front wheel drive automatic. I did buy a Grand Am that wouldn't go into reverse. But if I remember correctly I was able to replace a valve and fix it. But that was over 20 years ago, so I might be thinking of a different car
Yep, my 1985 Pontiac 6000LE that I bought brand new, started locking up the torque converter after 180,000 miles. I don't know how it troubleshooter that, but I put a pushbutton switch on my dash to engage it on the highway, and shut it off when I slowed down. I loved that car, it was great. Had the 2.8 liter V6, with carburetor.
I bought a new ‘89 Sunbird. It was a daily commuter to school then work. I babied this car. It lasted 8years and 80k miles till the transmission started slipping.
Did you ever change the transmission fluid in it, even once? You're supposed to do it every 30,000 miles. Though you can go further, maybe 50,000. But not 80,000 miles.
I briefly had a 1990 Buick Century with the three-speed automatic (I assume it was the 125-C). I had no issues with the transmission, but the car got pretty bad fuel economy for a 4-cylinder engine (Iron Duke). Most of my cars, however, were manual transmissions: 1980 Chevrolet Monza (4-speed), 1985 Cavalier hatchback Type-10, 1991 Beretta GT, 1994 Beretta base model (all were 5-speed).
lock up converter in my truck is perfect for 45 to 55 mph in drive, where OD is to high of a gear.hooked it up to a toggle switch.immediate drop of 300 rpm.switch even lights up when locked in.so far i never forgot to unlock it when stopping.tranny even runs cooler without the slip.
In my experience, The 125 / 125C is an excellent transmission. I have had several cars that had them, including one that went 367,000 miles without the transmission (or the 2.5L iron duke engine) ever needing to be rebuilt. I still have it, too, at 34 years old. The very early (1980) 125 had some issues with the oil pump drive shaft gear stripping out - but they fixed this problem after a short time of production. The torque converter clutch solenoid could stick on on the 125C, as you said, but if that happens, all you have to do is disconnect the connector on the front the transmission (driver's side, near the radiator) and you're back in business. You'll get maybe 1 mpg less on the highway, but who cares? You can fix it later or leave it alone. If you do decide to fix it, it's not a big deal, you just take the side cover off and replace the solenoid. I did mine in about a half hour, and never had a problem again. The THM-440 though - that was a troublesome transmission, especially in the 85, 86, and 87 model years. The overdrive clutch would go bad in them, or the clutch for first gear would go bad in them. They recommended replacing the transmission fluid in these every 15,000 miles to help delay these problems, but a lot of people didn't follow that recommendation. By 1988, they were much better and the problems became much less frequent. The thing was, these were installed in the higher priced luxury cars, like "full size" (in quotes because they weren't that big) Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Cadillacs. These weren't cheap cars. The C and H body cars, but even some 85-87 A body cars had them if they had V6 engines, especially the rarely seen 3.8 in an A body car. If you consider buying one of these (though after 37+ years how many are even around?), just make sure it's already been rebuilt. I have owned the THM-440 in cars from 1990 and later (by then known as 4T60 or 4T60E) and never had any trouble with them. In my opinion - THM-125: excellent - the torque converter clutch solenoid issue is not a big deal. THM-440: probably best to avoid 1985-87 cars with this transmission. 1988 and later: the THM-440 is fine. By the way, TV cable is Throttle Valve cable. It attaches to the valve body of the transmission. Just like you have a governor pressure that builds with vehicle speed, you have pressure on the other side from the throttle valve which influences whether the valve moves and when the vehicle shifts up (or down). I've seen it referred to as Throttle Valve in the service manual of one of my cars, not sure which one now. Throttle velocity - what would that mean? I guess the throttle controls the velocity of the vehicle - ha ha! But "T.V." means Throttle Valve - it acts on a valve in the valve body.
Knew of two Cutlass Cieras to have the stuck converter issue. As is so often the case, the electronics are subjected to conditions that are difficult to test the long term effects. It gets hot, corrosive, varnished, and sometimes a lot of moisture in there.
My 88' Z24 had a bad TCC solenoid, easy fix was just unplug it until you could get around to it. Other than that the 125C was a tough little unit, it would've been great with a 4 speed to make highway cruising better.
I wish I could find the commercial but circa 1980~82ish, maybe as late as '87, I remember a Pontiac commercial touting the FWD transmission and the driver was slamming the shifter back and forth from reverse to drive and smoking the tires while the commentator spoke of the toughness. This was about the time of the "How Day Do Dat?" fuel mileage commercials.
I had the lockup solenoid fail on my 1984 Pontiac Sunbird in the middle of an intersection. Had to get help to push it into a parking lot. After I changed the solenoid, I never had any more problems. I also had a 1989 Oldsmobile Toronado with the 440t4. The tab that engages the 1-2 band broke and I lost all forward gears, but reverse was still strong. I lowered the driver's side of the engine, removed the side cover from the tranny, removed all the guts, changed the band out for a new one and it drove like new again. Obviously I got the broken piece out from the bottom pan as it just drops down. Nowhere for it to really get lodged into or lost.
In 2020 I bought a surviving '92 Cavalier RS sedan with about 60k miles. It had the three-speed automatic; no overdrive. PHENOMENAL mileage. But the transmission became a two-speed manual after I got the car out of the snow ONCE.
That particular transmission was quite good, stuck solenoid valves do happen and there's also a membrane pressure switch to detect clutch apply that would fail once grime got inside. My 2000 Buick had 270k on the original transmission on the day a fuel line rupture burned the car down. Of course the fluid and filter were changed on a regular basis.
@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259 The 4T65E was not a totally good transaxle.They had issues with the final drives exploding apart,the well known p1811 code and cookie cutter going bad
@@Toolaholic7 Not sure what people are doing to explode the final drive, maybe some issue with the spider shaft? There's a shift correction kit available to address the code, I hear usually takes care of that. Mine always worked fine til the underhood fire did her in.
@@Toolaholic7 I think that happens when the spider shaft locking bolt works lose (possibly abuse?) and protrudes out of the carrier. Then as the assembly rotates, the protruding shaft knocks a hole through the case, Abuse can be from running two different size tires too long or at high speed, and/or rocking between rev/fwd trying to get unstuck in mud. Another possibility is the locking bolt comes lose by itself but I suspect abuse is the real cause.
I had a 1990 Cavalier Z24 with the first year in 3.1L but last year for the 125c automatic. It would chirp the tires during the 1 - 2 gear shift on full throttle pulls.
We had a 6000 S/E with the 440 trans with t/v cable. It actually wasn't too bad, just using for back and forth to work (approx 5 miles a day) Highway was a different story, slipped, shifting harshly at times, and the OD would kick in and out at times too. Overall a really weird operating trans.
Final drive ratios were between 2.84 and 3.33? My 83 Cutlass Ciera sedan was a 2.39 to 1 final drive ratio. Three speeds with a lockup torque converter (TCC). Broadcast code for the PROM chip in the ECM was CDL. I could look up the number of bytes of "block learn" in my basement file cabinet but I'm too lazy.
Man, that GM TH440 would feel like crap shifting but all cable shifted transmissions seemed to. Better take your foot out of it and let it shift. Dad got 220K out of one in his 88 LeSabre driving it easy and with me changing the fluid every 20K. Was funny when dropping the pan once at a little over 100K and half a plastic thrust washer was laying in the bottom. I suppose the other half stayed in place and did it's job. 😂😂
My first car was a 2000 Buick Century with a 3.1L V6 and a 4-speed 4T65E transmission. Never had a problem with the transmission, though I always thought it shifted very soft and slushy. It’s what you would expect out of an old person car. 1st gear was hilariously tall as I could make it to 40 mph in first gear. Believe it or not, I thought that V6 sounded really cool doing a hard acceleration like that. It sounded like a dyno pull every time I did it. The Buick is obviously not at all a sports car by any means. It’s not fast (but not slow either), the suspension is super boaty, and overall the Buick Century is a genuinely underwhelming vehicle with nothing particularly exciting about it. But no matter who you are, you’ll always remember your first car. It was very reliable and super comfortable and quiet. Good gas mileage too.
My next door neighbor had a 2000 LeSabre with a 3.8 and the 4L65. Seals leaked like a sieve. Had them changed out 4 times in a year and a half. He put in a Jasper rebuilt and never saw a problem again. I think that Jasper had a supplier of seals superior to OEM, either that, or there was an output shaft problem that ate the seals.
Flipping amazing!🤔 as the scripture says, what is done in dark, will eventually come to light! Had a 88 and 93 Beretta that burnt me with the same transmission problem. 😮 Go to stop and the car would just buck and cut off like a manual car. 2 different transmission companies stuck it to me for a converter and transmission solenoid. Said it could be the converter or the solenoid, so it was best to replace both!😢 Got me good! Now to hear 20 years later that this was a known problem, that plague this transmission sucks nuts.😢
I only remember any of these from when I was a kid in the 90's and you could tell one of these was dying by how slowl,,,,, gently a person with one would pass by the house on the hill we lived on.
Not sure why the fuss. I had a 88 cutlass ciera 4 cyl that I drove like i stole it, never had a problem and could have driven to California and back. Handled good too. 😮
For me the TH125 was indestructible. I had a citation in 1989 and was very hard on that car and it just kept going. I worked at the chevy dealer from the mid 80s to 89 and can say the early 440s were absolute garbage. Our transmission guys got rich just on those. Always had plenty of then each week come in.
Transmissions . the rack and pinion systems would stick mid turn and stiffen up . Then let go almost immediately making a u turn into a left hand sitting vehicle you cross over
All I can say is we made huge money selling parts for just about every FWD auto ever made! There a pile of sh!t. We rarely ever sold rebuild kits for manual FWD’s, they always out lived the car!
Meanwhile, the Chrysler A-413 3 speed automatic transmission was a directly scaled down version of the 904 and 727, and could take anything a modified 2.2 Turbo or 2.5 Turbo could put through them! GM just did the cheap half-ass transmission to maximize CORPORATE PROFITS.
The 4T65E had it's issues.One was the final drives exploding apart.When the P1811 code appeared,side cover came off to replace solenoids.A part inside called the cookie cutter broke too
Way back in the day during my first years of adulthood, I used to have an '87 Celebrity wagon with the 2.8 V6 and a 125C transmission. It was used for about 50,000 miles of hauling computer equipment and friends back and forth but the engine wasn't all that reliable due to frequent cooling system issues and a failed fuel injection regulator that I had to replace in sub-freezing temperatures in a parking lot. Still, if I'd had a better engine in that wagon, I would've kept it longer - how many three row wagons with a rear facing row do you see these days???
GM FWD transaxles and the engines they couple them with are all total crap. My cousin next-door had several I was his "mechanic" for. It took GM 35 years to "fix" the 3.8L V-6. All the others and GM fours are worthless. He had a Cutlass I saved his life from. The entire front-end was about to FALL OUT on the street! When the wrecker picked it up, IT DID! He owned an Olds with the 3.4L V-6 that the bottom-end was bad (with oil in the pan!). Spun 4 mains and broke 5 rods, pushed a piston thru the valve gear and debris got in the tranny and ruined it. Estimated salvage engine/tranny cost? $8600 TEN YEARS OLD with me doing free labor in his driveway. NONE of them clocked 80K miles...
The 1985 FWD Cadillacs weren't just saddled with a ticking timebomb of an engine with the 4100 HT V8, they were also stuck with a garbage glass FWD transmission.
My dad had an 87 Coupe DeVille with the 4100 HT that he got cheap from the Salvation army back in 04 and we quickly realized why it was so cheap. We ended up junking it. Sucks cause the body was in such great shape.
Its a throttle valve cable, as the throttle is opened the cable opens a valve in the transmission to raise fluid pressure
I don't know if that's technically correct but that's how I've always known it
In the 125, yes. In the 440-T4 the fluid pressure is controlled by a vacuum modulator and the T/V cable only affects the shift points.
That's true. I adjusted the cable on mine to switch to 3rd (last gear) around 30mph (45kph).
I don't know how high it was set to switch before, but I didn't like the idea that the engine should regularly rev up to 4k RPM just to switch to the last gear.
That's true, at least for the 3T40 (TH125). I adjusted the cable on mine to switch to 3rd (last gear) around 30mph (45kph).
I don't know how high it was set to switch before, but I didn't like the idea that the engine should regularly rev to over 4k RPM just to switch to the last gear.
I’ve been calling it throttle value lol
These are the reason I drove manual transmissions for so long as a GM employee.
i have a 2022 manual subaru crosstrek. CVT's are god awful to repair. manuals should still have a place but the EPA is forcing their demise, i get 30 MPG with that manual.
I had a 1990 Lumina Van with a 125C trany and a 3.1 engine. Changed trany fluid every 50,000 km’s. Engine oil every 10,000 km’s along with a tuneup and coolant change every 50,000 km’s. Lock up solenoid gave up at 415,000 km’s. I replaced solenoid. Scrap out the van at 456,000 km’s the A/C condenser give up 1 year before and the rear trailing arm spring plates where rusting out. Van was 8 years old when I bought it. Drove it 20 years sent to wreckers in 2018. Was a very reliable vehicle low cost to maintain. Good luck getting a new vehicle to last that long now. This vehicle was driven in the land of salt and snow in southern Ontario. The only saving grace with this vehicle it was oil sprayed every year. That’s why it lasted so long.
456 thousand kilometers is around 283 thousand miles. That's actually not bad.
I noticed that MTO will spray brine on the highways. If I lived in Ontario, or drove into Ontario from Manitoba, I would do annual Rust Check
I also have this van, exact same specs. It's been two years since I've managed to make the engine run, it still does run but only runs decent after it reached operating temperature (more than 70-80°C). Until then, it won't have the power to surpass 3k RPM or 40kph (30mph).
I changed fuel filter, spark plugs, spark plug cables (the latter two increased the reached RPM a bit). I'm thinking it might just be a fuel problem, the fuel pump to be more exact. I inspected it and the connecting short rubber hose and it's not cracked... But I will replace it anyway.
It seems strange that the engine runs decently only when it's warm.
@@soupflood Check the fuel pressure regulator, pull the vacuum line off it while it's running and see if the diaphragm is leaking fuel into the vacuum line.
@@ethanlindsey the fuel pressure regulator doesn't have a vacuum line (it's a TBI without vacuum line). I tried adjusting the regulator spring to push more on the diaphragm, no change (except it started to leak a tiny bit from the diaphragm).
I'm not sure if a (clapped out) fuel pump could run better when the engine is warm.
We had a few 125C cars and a few 440T4 - but only after they became the 4T60. The 125C cars all had the stuck torque converter solenoid and we just unplugged the solenoid and drove the car without lockup. Ran just fine and never an 'overheat' problem so many people screamed about. Never saw a dip in gas mileage either. Those little torque converters were rather tight so there was never enough slip to warm them up into the red zone.
After my Pontiac GOOLIE torque converter clutch got stuck on a few times (only after 10 or more miles of driving), I disconnected the wire on the front of the trans case and did without lockup for the remainder of my ownership. I saw a cow-orker that lived nearby stop at a traffic light and by the motions of the vehicle I knew his J2000 was experiencing a stuck-on converter clutch. At work the next day I told him that I had noticed his predicament and I shared my work-around with him. I'll have to ask him if he ever fully repaired it or if he just drove without converter lock-up from then on.
Had a 93 Ciera with the 3.3 V6 and the 125C. My dad bought it off our neighbor with 63000 miles on it in 2009. I bought from him in 2013. When the transmission went out, my uncle figured it, pulled the driver side tire off, got in there and fixed it. He told me the solenoid was bad. Didnt need a rebuild and I was happy. Love that car. 😊
This is an excellent car with an excellent transmission. These cars are so low cost to maintain! try to keep it going as long as you can.
@@sasz2107
I would have if an older gentleman didnt sideswipe me two years after i got it.
I'm currently running a 1990 Cavalier with the 2.2 and a THM125C. It has 102,000 miles and has been quite dependable. I've change the fluid and filter twice , and replaced the TCC solenoid several years ago. It's an easy fix once the left front wheel is removed.
when I was in school a kid had a chevy corsica with I believe one of these, He would floor it in reverse going backwards than drop it in drive to break the tires loose and then do these impressive rolling burnouts....
Over at Neutral Drop TV, they call that a “rocking horse.”
I’m impressed how long those old schitt boxes run before something blows
A lifetime ago, I had a friend do that a few times in a 66 Impala 2 dr hardtop with a 327 powerglide. As I recall, it was about the fourth or fifth time doing that when it failed badly. He replaced it with a Turbo 350 and treated that one a lot better.😅
@@markchapmon8670 the Powerglide is used in drag racing. Properly built, it’s almost indestructible.
Stock, well, your friend found the hardware limit of abuse
The torque converter selinoid could be unplugged and your problem would be solved you'll just have less fuel economy. Learned that trick a long time ago.
I was a part time grease monkey for a group that had GM cars in the 70's and 80's. I know that doesn't mean much technically speaking. The 125C was a very good transaxle. The owners/users of the vehicles always drove the cars like they stole them. The only problem I ever had was that the Throttle valve cables would stretch. Replaced quite a few of those. Other than that, changed out the filter at 60,000 miles. Never any problems The cars themselves, were Chevy's and Olds. X and "Midsize." All had the optional V6 engines. Good fuel economy 22 city/ 27 Hwy. Not EPA bullcrap numbers, actual. Thanks for the video. As always, great work!
Thanks!
Surprisingly i never had a problem with a GM front wheel drive automatic. I did buy a Grand Am that wouldn't go into reverse. But if I remember correctly I was able to replace a valve and fix it. But that was over 20 years ago, so I might be thinking of a different car
The 4t65e,an alright transmission.The 4t60e before it had it's issues
Know someone who drove a grand am with a blown water pump many months. It caught fire after the heads blew from no water.
They were 3 speeds but they definitely weren’t Here There and Gone.
Yep, my 1985 Pontiac 6000LE that I bought brand new, started locking up the torque converter after 180,000 miles. I don't know how it troubleshooter that, but I put a pushbutton switch on my dash to engage it on the highway, and shut it off when I slowed down. I loved that car, it was great. Had the 2.8 liter V6, with carburetor.
I bought a new ‘89 Sunbird. It was a daily commuter to school then work. I babied this car. It lasted 8years and 80k miles till the transmission started slipping.
Did you ever change the transmission fluid in it, even once? You're supposed to do it every 30,000 miles. Though you can go further, maybe 50,000. But not 80,000 miles.
I briefly had a 1990 Buick Century with the three-speed automatic (I assume it was the 125-C). I had no issues with the transmission, but the car got pretty bad fuel economy for a 4-cylinder engine (Iron Duke). Most of my cars, however, were manual transmissions: 1980 Chevrolet Monza (4-speed), 1985 Cavalier hatchback Type-10, 1991 Beretta GT, 1994 Beretta base model (all were 5-speed).
lock up converter in my truck is perfect for 45 to 55 mph in drive, where OD is to high of a gear.hooked it up to a toggle switch.immediate drop of 300 rpm.switch even lights up when locked in.so far i never forgot to unlock it when stopping.tranny even runs cooler without the slip.
In my experience, The 125 / 125C is an excellent transmission. I have had several cars that had them, including one that went 367,000 miles without the transmission (or the 2.5L iron duke engine) ever needing to be rebuilt. I still have it, too, at 34 years old. The very early (1980) 125 had some issues with the oil pump drive shaft gear stripping out - but they fixed this problem after a short time of production. The torque converter clutch solenoid could stick on on the 125C, as you said, but if that happens, all you have to do is disconnect the connector on the front the transmission (driver's side, near the radiator) and you're back in business. You'll get maybe 1 mpg less on the highway, but who cares? You can fix it later or leave it alone. If you do decide to fix it, it's not a big deal, you just take the side cover off and replace the solenoid. I did mine in about a half hour, and never had a problem again. The THM-440 though - that was a troublesome transmission, especially in the 85, 86, and 87 model years. The overdrive clutch would go bad in them, or the clutch for first gear would go bad in them. They recommended replacing the transmission fluid in these every 15,000 miles to help delay these problems, but a lot of people didn't follow that recommendation. By 1988, they were much better and the problems became much less frequent. The thing was, these were installed in the higher priced luxury cars, like "full size" (in quotes because they weren't that big) Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Cadillacs. These weren't cheap cars. The C and H body cars, but even some 85-87 A body cars had them if they had V6 engines, especially the rarely seen 3.8 in an A body car. If you consider buying one of these (though after 37+ years how many are even around?), just make sure it's already been rebuilt. I have owned the THM-440 in cars from 1990 and later (by then known as 4T60 or 4T60E) and never had any trouble with them. In my opinion - THM-125: excellent - the torque converter clutch solenoid issue is not a big deal. THM-440: probably best to avoid 1985-87 cars with this transmission. 1988 and later: the THM-440 is fine. By the way, TV cable is Throttle Valve cable. It attaches to the valve body of the transmission. Just like you have a governor pressure that builds with vehicle speed, you have pressure on the other side from the throttle valve which influences whether the valve moves and when the vehicle shifts up (or down). I've seen it referred to as Throttle Valve in the service manual of one of my cars, not sure which one now. Throttle velocity - what would that mean? I guess the throttle controls the velocity of the vehicle - ha ha! But "T.V." means Throttle Valve - it acts on a valve in the valve body.
Knew of two Cutlass Cieras to have the stuck converter issue. As is so often the case, the electronics are subjected to conditions that are difficult to test the long term effects. It gets hot, corrosive, varnished, and sometimes a lot of moisture in there.
My 88' Z24 had a bad TCC solenoid, easy fix was just unplug it until you could get around to it. Other than that the 125C was a tough little unit, it would've been great with a 4 speed to make highway cruising better.
I had a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais with the 2.5L and the TH-350C (pretty sure.) LOVED that car.
Keep up the videos on the classic time of the 80's. Great work!
Thank you!
I had a 440T4 in an 85 Century wagon. Fabulous transmission.
I wish I could find the commercial but circa 1980~82ish, maybe as late as '87, I remember a Pontiac commercial touting the FWD transmission and the driver was slamming the shifter back and forth from reverse to drive and smoking the tires while the commentator spoke of the toughness. This was about the time of the "How Day Do Dat?" fuel mileage commercials.
Keep em coming, great channel!
Thanks!
Let's go RPO!!!
Never had a 125 or 440...but I do love my TH325-4L!
Thank you!
Still running my original th250C, it refuses to die. Front seal leaks a little, about 1/2 qt/yr.
I had the lockup solenoid fail on my 1984 Pontiac Sunbird in the middle of an intersection. Had to get help to push it into a parking lot. After I changed the solenoid, I never had any more problems. I also had a 1989 Oldsmobile Toronado with the 440t4. The tab that engages the 1-2 band broke and I lost all forward gears, but reverse was still strong. I lowered the driver's side of the engine, removed the side cover from the tranny, removed all the guts, changed the band out for a new one and it drove like new again. Obviously I got the broken piece out from the bottom pan as it just drops down. Nowhere for it to really get lodged into or lost.
In 2020 I bought a surviving '92 Cavalier RS sedan with about 60k miles. It had the three-speed automatic; no overdrive.
PHENOMENAL mileage.
But the transmission became a two-speed manual after I got the car out of the snow ONCE.
I had a few cars with that transmission, mostly 88's and a 98 Regency. I put 200k on one of them before selling it.
My parents had an 2000 Impala LS that had a stuck TCC solenoid within 30k. That was amazing.
That particular transmission was quite good, stuck solenoid valves do happen and there's also a membrane pressure switch to detect clutch apply that would fail once grime got inside.
My 2000 Buick had 270k on the original transmission on the day a fuel line rupture burned the car down. Of course the fluid and filter were changed on a regular basis.
@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259 The 4T65E was not a totally good transaxle.They had issues with the final drives exploding apart,the well known p1811 code and cookie cutter going bad
@@Toolaholic7 Not sure what people are doing to explode the final drive, maybe some issue with the spider shaft? There's a shift correction kit available to address the code, I hear usually takes care of that.
Mine always worked fine til the underhood fire did her in.
@@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259 I seen one the case was destroyed from the final drive exploded apart.They come apart overtime
@@Toolaholic7 I think that happens when the spider shaft locking bolt works lose (possibly abuse?) and protrudes out of the carrier. Then as the assembly rotates, the protruding shaft knocks a hole through the case, Abuse can be from running two different size tires too long or at high speed, and/or rocking between rev/fwd trying to get unstuck in mud. Another possibility is the locking bolt comes lose by itself but I suspect abuse is the real cause.
I had an 84 Skyhawk with a three speed auto and a torque converter that didn't like to unlock. Haven't owned an auto since
I had a 1990 Cavalier Z24 with the first year in 3.1L but last year for the 125c automatic. It would chirp the tires during the 1 - 2 gear shift on full throttle pulls.
We had a 6000 S/E with the 440 trans with t/v cable. It actually wasn't too bad, just using for back and forth to work (approx 5 miles a day) Highway was a different story, slipped, shifting harshly at times, and the OD would kick in and out at times too. Overall a really weird operating trans.
The 88 and newer 440t4 are pretty robust as GM finally got them right.
Final drive ratios were between 2.84 and 3.33? My 83 Cutlass Ciera sedan was a 2.39 to 1 final drive ratio. Three speeds with a lockup torque converter (TCC). Broadcast code for the PROM chip in the ECM was CDL. I could look up the number of bytes of "block learn" in my basement file cabinet but I'm too lazy.
Man, that GM TH440 would feel like crap shifting but all cable shifted transmissions seemed to. Better take your foot out of it and let it shift. Dad got 220K out of one in his 88 LeSabre driving it easy and with me changing the fluid every 20K. Was funny when dropping the pan once at a little over 100K and half a plastic thrust washer was laying in the bottom. I suppose the other half stayed in place and did it's job. 😂😂
I remember my mom's where the thing would click and chatter and the final down shift was a hard THUMP. Every time
I had 2 1993 beretta. Both had issues with the lock up solenoid.
My first car was a 2000 Buick Century with a 3.1L V6 and a 4-speed 4T65E transmission. Never had a problem with the transmission, though I always thought it shifted very soft and slushy. It’s what you would expect out of an old person car. 1st gear was hilariously tall as I could make it to 40 mph in first gear. Believe it or not, I thought that V6 sounded really cool doing a hard acceleration like that. It sounded like a dyno pull every time I did it. The Buick is obviously not at all a sports car by any means. It’s not fast (but not slow either), the suspension is super boaty, and overall the Buick Century is a genuinely underwhelming vehicle with nothing particularly exciting about it. But no matter who you are, you’ll always remember your first car. It was very reliable and super comfortable and quiet. Good gas mileage too.
My next door neighbor had a 2000 LeSabre with a 3.8 and the 4L65. Seals leaked like a sieve. Had them changed out 4 times in a year and a half. He put in a Jasper rebuilt and never saw a problem again. I think that Jasper had a supplier of seals superior to OEM, either that, or there was an output shaft problem that ate the seals.
Flipping amazing!🤔 as the scripture says, what is done in dark, will eventually come to light! Had a 88 and 93 Beretta that burnt me with the same transmission problem. 😮
Go to stop and the car would just buck and cut off like a manual car. 2 different transmission companies stuck it to me for a converter and transmission solenoid. Said it could be the converter or the solenoid, so it was best to replace both!😢 Got me good!
Now to hear 20 years later that this was a known problem, that plague this transmission sucks nuts.😢
I only remember any of these from when I was a kid in the 90's and you could tell one of these was dying by how slowl,,,,, gently a person with one would pass by the house on the hill we lived on.
Not sure why the fuss. I had a 88 cutlass ciera 4 cyl that I drove like i stole it, never had a problem and could have driven to California and back. Handled good too. 😮
I do own a 1986 Opel Kadett E 1.3i 60bhp with the thm125.
The 125 and and 125C transaxles,most yards threw them in the scrap pile due to no calls for them
I unplugged the torque converter. The car drove better than ever And I never noticed a difference in fuel economy
1:50 Television Cable obviously. Your car now has HBO and Showtime
Relatives had a new Olds 98 and it smoked the transmission at 25k miles. Three transmissions later, they traded for an LTD.
For me the TH125 was indestructible.
I had a citation in 1989 and was very hard on that car and it just kept going.
I worked at the chevy dealer from the mid 80s to 89 and can say the early 440s were absolute garbage.
Our transmission guys got rich just on those.
Always had plenty of then each week come in.
Transmissions . the rack and pinion systems would stick mid turn and stiffen up . Then let go almost immediately making a u turn into a left hand sitting vehicle you cross over
I've got 2 Chevy Cavaliers with the 125C. When they go out, I'll replace them with Getrag 5 speeds.
Chevy cavalier 1994 had to change the solenoid in the trans because it kept the converter locked up...
All I can say is we made huge money selling parts for just about every FWD auto ever made! There a pile of sh!t.
We rarely ever sold rebuild kits for manual FWD’s, they always out lived the car!
Meanwhile, the Chrysler A-413 3 speed automatic transmission was a directly scaled down version of the 904 and 727, and could take anything a modified 2.2 Turbo or 2.5 Turbo could put through them! GM just did the cheap half-ass transmission to maximize CORPORATE PROFITS.
I had a 2003 Chevy Impala, champagne platinum gold color, 3.8L V6 series II 4 speed automatic... For a everyday sedan, it was fast
The 4T65E had it's issues.One was the final drives exploding apart.When the P1811 code appeared,side cover came off to replace solenoids.A part inside called the cookie cutter broke too
Ive had both, the 440 was crap.
125 with lock up worked fine.
The 1TH125 could take a heap of abuse. It's a really crude device compared to the modern 5+ speed automatics.
Way back in the day during my first years of adulthood, I used to have an '87 Celebrity wagon with the 2.8 V6 and a 125C transmission. It was used for about 50,000 miles of hauling computer equipment and friends back and forth but the engine wasn't all that reliable due to frequent cooling system issues and a failed fuel injection regulator that I had to replace in sub-freezing temperatures in a parking lot.
Still, if I'd had a better engine in that wagon, I would've kept it longer - how many three row wagons with a rear facing row do you see these days???
You mean the fuel pressure regulator? Was the diaphragm torn and peeing fuel straight down the intake? Did the 87 2.8 use throttle or port injection?
Tv cable was basically the kick down cable in a way. My 89 silverado had one.
Speaker sounds to be from Baltimore hon
Chrysler 4 speed automatics were not much better.
Except they lasted until 2022 in the Dodge Journey.
NEVER had a problem with those transmissions.... what on earth are you guys doing to them for them to fail?
GM FWD transaxles and the engines they couple them with are all total crap. My cousin next-door had several I was his "mechanic" for. It took GM 35 years to "fix" the 3.8L V-6. All the others and GM fours are worthless. He had a Cutlass I saved his life from. The entire front-end was about to FALL OUT on the street! When the wrecker picked it up, IT DID! He owned an Olds with the 3.4L V-6 that the bottom-end was bad (with oil in the pan!). Spun 4 mains and broke 5 rods, pushed a piston thru the valve gear and debris got in the tranny and ruined it. Estimated salvage engine/tranny cost? $8600 TEN YEARS OLD with me doing free labor in his driveway. NONE of them clocked 80K miles...
Hahahaha..who cares about the transmissions.....all those FWD cars they made were garbage and fell apart, usually before the gearbox. What junk.