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Tranny Issue...hard shifting when warm.

G

Gustav270

New CEG'er
Joined
Sep 20, 2007
Messages
15
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This problem has plagued my car for about 4 years now. My transmission will start to shift hard after 45 minutes of driving or so. I had a new transmission put into my car because my whole tranny went out in May 2007. It was a used tranny with about 35k miles on it. Anyhow, the problem still persists even with the new transmission. The weird thing is, is if I turn off my car and start it up again, the transmission will shift fine again. It isnt a big deal, since I can just turn off my car and the problem goes away, but it is annoying. Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks,
--Kyle
 
is it an automatic? sounds like it has something to do with something electrical, since turning of the car kind of resets it, maybe there is something in the PCM that controls part of the shifting?
 
It's a relatively common problem.

Valve body worn and sticking, torque converter slipping and overheating the fluid.

Steve...
 
If it was the valve body or overheated fluid, why would it work perfectly after I shut off my car? The transmission works flawlessly for the first 45 or so minutes, then when it starts acting up, I turn off my car, sometimes I just throw it in neutral on the highway going 55mph and turn off the ignition and start up my car again. And every time, my transmission will shift flawlessly again. It is an automatic CD4E tranny by the way, and I also think its sometime electrical. I've searched the forums and I didn't find any similar situations where the person could quickly shut off and turn on their car to fix the problem.
 
Yeah, I know all about it. Been there, done that.

Everything you've described is consistent with the failure and its temporary recovery.

For more details, see this and the the old forums. SEARCH keyword P1744 will get you the details. Here's a good one: http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/s...ber=909853&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

I replaced the TC shortly after that last post in that thread and the car is still running strong. Now has almost another 20K miles and almost 2 years on it since the problem originally surfaced.

Steve
 
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Soo...I need to replace both the valve body and torque converter to fix the problem? In the older post, you said the tranny has to be pulled in order to fix the TC. How about the valve body? Is it a relatively easy fix?

I'm going to bring my car in to a dealership in a few weeks to get it checked out before I make a 3600 mile trip to Florida and back. I'd like to get this problem fixed to prevent damage to my "new" tranny. I've driven it about 7-8k miles, but I haven't made any long trips with it yet. I've only noticed hard shifts once or twice since the new tranny was put in, so I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope that the TC isn't ruined yet.

Any estimate on how much replacing the valve body would be? Should I get the TransGo kit that is mentioned in the old forums? If so, could you point me in the right direction (axiom.com?). I just want to make sure I get the proper parts and solve this problem.

Thanks much!
 
There are probably suggested diagnostics that should be performed, especially a scan to see if the TC can, in fact, be observed slipping (TC ratio). This would confirm that slipping has occurred and that the TC is likely toasted.

Also, do check to see if a P1744 code has been stored. Another strong indication.

Perform the TC lockup test by running steady-state at around 60 mph and without changing throttle pressure, gently tap the brakes enough to turn on the brake lights. You should see a rise of up to several hundred RPMs if the TC was locked and then released with the tap of the brakes. That rise was missing on mine since the TC had toasted and was unable to lockup.

While you have the "classic" symptoms of this valve body failure, I'm always more comfortable doing the diagnostics to see if the hypothesis can be confirmed.

Yes, the tranny has to be dropped to get to the TC.

The valve body can be replaced in situ.

Steve
 
Does the car need to start shifting hard before the P1744 code is stored? I disconnected my battery a few weeks ago, and I haven't noticed any hard shifting in awhile. Most likely because I usually only drive 30-45 minutes at most.

I'll probably go take the car out for an hour or so and bring it in to autozone tomorrow and see what wonderful codes come up. I appreciate your help Steve, thank you.
 
projectSHO89 said:
Perform the TC lockup test by running steady-state at around 60 mph and without changing throttle pressure, gently tap the brakes enough to turn on the brake lights. You should see a rise of up to several hundred RPMs if the TC was locked and then released with the tap of the brakes. That rise was missing on mine since the TC had toasted and was unable to lockup.
Click to expand...

I tapped the brakes and I did see a rise of about 200 RPM's. I didn't get a chance to drive my car this weekend though, so I'll have to wait until later this week to check the codes.

As far as a good valve body to get for my car, any suggestions? I don't think buying an OEM valve body would do me any good since the problem will probably occur again. Also, any other things I should tell the mechanic to check if/when I replace the valve body? I may as well have him do it now while he takes apart my car to fix it...
 
Well I finally got it into the shop yesterday and yes, he found the beloved P1744 code. I've looked through a bunch of posts on this problem, and I was just wondering if the TC is for sure already fried. I replaced the transmission in May and I have not driven it very much. It took about 1 hour and 15 mins for the car to start shifting hard. Is it possible for me to get away with replacing just the valve body and hope for the best on the TC or are they both already fried? I don't think I'm going to drop another transmission into this car...especially since I just spent $1300 last May putting one in.
 
Also as a side note...If I do replace the valve body and the slipping still occurs, the next step would be to replace the TC. Would I save a lot of money by combining the repairs? I'm thinking I may just take a chance and fix the valve body, and if the slipping doesn't occur, great, if it does, then I can decide whether or not to replace the TC/tranny...

Is there any other repairs I should have done? Other posts mentioned TC coolers and what not. I don't know much about cars, so a lot of this stuff is over my head.

Quite a difficult decision here...I've dumped a lot of money into this thing already and I'm not sure if I want to cut my losses and run away...

Thanks for your help.
 
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I AM ALSO HAVING ISSUES WITH MY TRANS...ITS A 99 SE WITH A MANUAL TRANS....lately it been sticking in 1 gear only..making it kinda hard to put it in gear...then last night i jump in it to go to the store and all but one gear are hard to put into gear...and suggestions.....could it be the linkage or one of my techs at work seems to thing its the slave cylinder....and advice:shrug:
 
COLER59 said:
I AM ALSO HAVING ISSUES WITH MY TRANS...ITS A 99 SE WITH A MANUAL TRANS....lately it been sticking in 1 gear only..making it kinda hard to put it in gear...then last night i jump in it to go to the store and all but one gear are hard to put into gear...and suggestions.....could it be the linkage or one of my techs at work seems to thing its the slave cylinder....and advice:shrug:
Click to expand...

This thread was about problems with an AUTOMATIC transmission. Your car has a manual.

You should have started your own thread.

Perhaps a mod will handle this appropriately and put it in a new thread in the correct forum.

Steve
 
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