here, I have vids of the mysterious "squeak"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRvKpzHgDhI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTG-Aden_tU

 

Am I hearing a miss off idle? Could it be a failing rocker arm or roller lifter?

 

ugh...........LONG weekend with the car. I drove from here to Indianapolis to visit some friends for the weekend. I noticed part of the way down that the car didn't want to shift into 4th gear (only did very rarely, and when it did it wasn't for long). With the cruise control, I was buzzing at around 3500 rpm, so as you can imagine, it totally killed my gas mileage (18 highway ftl). When I finally got to Indy, the car shifted really, really hard from 1st to 2nd. Usually I could chirp the tires under hard acceleration quite easily, but now it was chirping them under very light acceleration. The unusually hard shift was also accompanied by a very audible thump! sound. After I had it sitting off for about 45 mins, it drove just fine. Yesterday when I drove from Indy to Shelbyville, the driver's side window wouldn't even go down (fortunately I have new motors sitting in my bedroom right now). Driving back from Shelbyville today, the trans was doing the same thing. I stopped for gas after about 250 miles, and after that, the thing wouldn't shift into 4th at all. I had to stop for a bathroom break after a while, and I realized that the thing wasn't downshifting into 1st or 2nd either. So for the last half of the trip today, the car was in 3rd gear the whole time. What gives???

On a secondary note, I'm going to take the car to another shop to get a second opinion on the noise.

I'm really getting sick of feeling like I'm taking a gamble every time I drive my car

 

i hope you checked the tranny fluid. have you had it scanned for codes yet. may have a tranny code to get an idea whats up. sure sounds like your missing a cylinder on that recording. have you had the valve covers off yet? only takes a minute on the driver side, on the passenger side you have to take the alternator out to do it so you would have to unhook the belt to do that and that would let you check the noise with the belt off as well.

 

checked the ATF this afternoon, and I think it was a little low, I'll have to pick up some Dexron VI after work tomorrow. Screwdriver-stethoscope trick was inconclusive...I guess I just don't really know what I'm listening for.

 

Put in some more ATF today, didn't do a thing. I tried driving it putting the shift lever in 1, 2, or D w/ no square, and it's always in 3rd gear. I have no idea what's going on.

 

something is unhooked take the pan off and see if you can see a lose wire in there. if the shift solonoid is not getting power it will go to 3rd gear, a common problem with the 4l60e.

 

nailed it once again, craby. got it scanned at autozone today, and it turns out it's just a connection. (insert BIG sigh of relief here).

 

also, apparently all four of my O2 sensors are throwing codes. the front ones affect fuel delivery, don't they? what will happen if I delete those codes?

 

just got the car back from the shop. had it at Aamco Transmissions in Sterling Heights. Apparently both shift solenoids were broken. final tab was about $268 after the guy gave me a break on labor. he seemed like a really cool guy, he autocrosses an SVT Lightning (never been beaten by a stock Corvette--pretty good for a tow truck) and a Shelby Cobra (never been beaten by a race-modded Corvette). He also has a Mini Cooper S that he did head work on himself and is making 240 hp at the wheels. His DD is a 2008 Bullitt Mustang. I'd definitely go there again.

also, valve covers are probably coming off on Sunday so I can get my valvetrain issue figured out.