Hey yall,

I got a 1995 auto trans RE4F04A. About 2 months ago I had a full rebuild done. It included a new remanufactured torque converter and even remanufactured valvebody/solenoid pack. Everything was tested and confirmed fully functional as expected. Two things to note is that it’s not a stock system; I have the Stillen supercharger kit and an aftermarket trans cooler. Both are installed correctly and the trans shop made sure the trans cooler was working properly as well.

Well, after about a month of modest driving including some roadtrips, one day out of the blue I lost 4th gear. I also noticed that it took a really long time to shift from 2nd to 3rd, and it would hang for a long moment while the RPMs would go up into the 6000s unless I let off the accelerator to let it shift up. I checked for codes on the ECU and found P0734 “Gear 4 Incorrect Ratio”

The trans shop did a warranty service and rebuilt it again, checked everything, didn’t find a direct cause, but told me that it could possibly be related to the knock sensor code I had. So I replaced the knock sensor and its pigtail, code gone. After the rebuild, all codes gone, no more CEL, and it seems to be running well.

My question is, could an early transmission failure really be caused by a bad knock sensor? Is there anything else I should check? Fluid levels are good according to the trans shop, and there’s no leaks. I checked myself as well but I can’t find any obvious issues

I’m just worried that this will happen again sometime in the future, and I really don’t want to pay another $2600 for a rebuild. I also don’t want a manual transmission in this car, I’m happy with the auto because this is my roadtrip vehicle and daily driver. So I’d much rather find a reliable fix for the auto than replace it.

 

No way. The trans shop did a poor job at the rebuild, plain and simple. They are now looking at an excuse to not rebuild it a third time if something goes wrong.

 

Thanks wizard, that’s the last time I go to those guys then. It’s tough to find high quality shops in Vegas

 

agreed. poor quality work.

knock sensor fault is a plausible thought on their end as toyota (theyve probably come across this on a camry or 1gr truck but never a nissan) will lock overdrive and tcc lockup with a ks fault present but this is done electrically by simply not allowing the shift. in no way does it cause a mechanical failure.

 

yea that reasoning with the knock sensor smells all over it mechanically speaking, and does this last rebuild restart the warranty clock for you?

and it's tough to find quality work and shops any where !

recent years of production cars on the road are all planned obsolescence meaning people don't fix crap anymore they replace the part no matter how simple the fix/repair is , sometimes even worse the parts are designed not to be repaired and sold as whole units too
therefore any good mechanic that would usually fix things is that much older now and niche.

 

luckily yeah the warranty is reset, but my biggest fear is that in exactly 1 year and 1 month from now the transmission will fail again outside warranty period haha

I’m actually planning a full engine rebuild in the next few months. I want this car to last me my whole lifetime. Gonna make a post soon about all the stuff I’ve done to it

 

If it ain't luxmax97 with an burner and multiple burner accounts. MD historic Z71 157 Z73 157