mostly seems to happen in the cold months. I start the car shift into drive but the gear doesnt "catch" so to speak and the car just sits, so i wait like 3 mins in park shift again and off i go. Latley i tried shifting from park into 1 and that seems to catch i then shift into drive and go.

Is shifting into 1 compounding any problems i may have?>

Can you tell us what your trans fluid looks like after driving for a few minutes? What does it smell like? How full is it when you check in in park while idling?

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...r=asc&start=20

According to a previous poster, there'* an internal transmission seal that not working properly and seems to be temperature sensitive. This prevents the car from going into gear.

I have a 92 SSEI with 141,000 miles and have the same problem. Parked in the garage and when the temperature goes below 50 degrees, I shift into reverse and nothing happens. A poster in the above thread suggests quickly shifting into first gear and then back to reverse.

What I found to work well is to start the car up and let it idle for 30 seconds or so. Shift into reverse and see if transmission engages. If it doesn't, shift it back into park and "blip" the throttle to 2500 rpm (quickly). Reverse or drive should engage.

This has worked for me so far...

92' SSEI/141,000 miles

Be careful with that blip. If your line pressure is higher when you shift into R, you can damage your reverse reaction drum. The drum is a notorious weak-spot on high-mileage 4T60E'*.

In fact, my reverse shift is so hard now, that I roll out of my driveway (talking about the green car, not my green car) in neutral, then shift into reverse as I roll to prevent further damage to the drum.

You'd be better off doing what Blinky described in shifting back to 1, then back up to R, assuming this allows the reverse shift for you.

Thanks for the information.

When I start my car up, it fast idles at 1500 rpm. If the car doesn't go into reverse, I put it back into park and blip the throttle to 2500 rpm and let the idle drop back to 1400-1500. Then I put it into reverse and out I go. No hard shifts into reverse so far... This also works if I drive a short distance and park to get gas or the newspaper and the car isn't fully warmed up. If it doesn't go immediately into drive, I blip the throttle again and I'm off.

92 SSEI 141,000 miles

Had this happen to my Buick when cold. Turned out to be a clogged filter that starved the pump for fluid when the fluid was cold and thick.
When was the last time you changed your filter.

torque converter can be a culprit too.

same issue awhile back with my tranny

Don'* advice (and others) is sound. Drop the pan and do the filter first. And take a good pic or two of the debris you find in the pan. We can identify problems that way.

If that doesn't help, the best way to check the pump is to simply go in and have a trans FLUSH. Most flush machines will tell you the pressure the pump is developing.

Not sure on the filter i bought the car used about a 8mnths ago. is changing the filter something i can do myself with no car experience

squela how did you fix your problem?