We bought this 1998 Cavalier 2.2L Auto 4 speed from a friend that needed some fast cash. He come home drunk one night and hit his friends lifted Silverado in the driveway and crunched the drivers side fender and broke the bumper. Not having the money to replace the parts, he let the car sit. The Cavalier set for about 2 years before we bought it ($250) and replaced the fender, bumper and other misc. things. We were planning on selling it but my wife, for god knows why, liked driving it. I gave it an oil and filter change, replaced the transmission filter and fluid (DID NOT FLUSH IT), and flushed the radiator. The car only has 81k miles on it. She has been driving the car back and forth to work for the past year and it ran fine until a week ago. There are no codes and the engine seems to run fine, the problem is....the transmission is slipping, I think.
We first noticed the issue when my wife tried to pass someone and the car just revved up and didn't gain any speed. Then it started having slow take off speeds and slipping when changing gears. Also, I tried manually shifting through the gears to try and pinpoint the gear(s) that were slipping. Well 1st will buck you right out of the car. Changing to 2nd...it slipped, engine revved high and little power to drivetrian. Same in 3rd. When I shifted into drive, it seemed to slip a little but started gaining speed. It drove "normally" at 55-60 mph but, when you hit the gas, to pass another car, the engine just revved up and you have to back off the throttle for the tranny to catch.
I know some of you are not going to agree with my next move but, I have had success in the past with this. I added Lucas Transmission Slip. Since it worked on my 1997 Ranger 4x4 for 2 years ( I still went mud'n and towed several cars) until I could afford a new tranny. I figured what the hell...I'll try it......no luck though...still slips.
I have seen several posts about the Cavalier tranny doing this at random. There is no set mileage on when this could happen. There are people that say it happened at 15,000 all the way to 200,000 miles. I have yet to find a "fix" for this other than replacing the tranny or replacing the TCC solenoid to see if this was the issue. Both of these "fixes" are going to cost more than the car is worth. I was just wondering if it was really the tranny or maybe something else causing it to "feel like" it was the tranny slipping. If it is really the tranny slipping...i will junk the car befroe spending alot to fix it.