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tranny hard shifting

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Old Dec 16, 2006 | 07:44 PM
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Default tranny hard shifting

My 98 SLE suddenly started hard shifting tonight. Previously was fine?, but now it is really firm going from a stop to 1st and 2nd especially and 3rd. Doesn't slip or anything and drives fine, but at 96000 miles I am worried. I will likely bring it to a local shop on Monday, but I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if so, what was the problem. Thanks Jim
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Old Dec 16, 2006 | 08:06 PM
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I had this happen when my maf went on another car. It put the ecm into limp home mode which also had the please of hard shifting.

Do you have the SES light on?
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Old Dec 16, 2006 | 10:02 PM
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The SES did not come on. I wish it had, a sensor is a lot cheaper than a tranny, but maybe it could be something like that.
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 08:50 AM
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Well, the problem is gone this morning so I have to believe that it was a temporary sensor malfunction. If it comes back I will take it to the Pontiac dealer and not the transmission shop.
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 10:53 AM
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Hows the fluid Jim? Has it and the fliter been changed lately? Does it smell burned, or have a brown color to it? If it hasn't been changed lately, you may want to do that even if the problem has gone away, for now.
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 11:35 AM
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the fluid is sort of orange colored. the level is good, but the filter and fluid have not been changed in 52k miles. At 44k the dealer changed the fluid and filter on a unit that got 100% of the old fluid out, it was supposedly a new thing there. might be time for service again.
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 11:43 AM
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Orange?
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 11:54 AM
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Yeah, the color doesn't sound good. I'd suggest at least dropping the pan, and replacing the fluid and filter. While you're in there, check for any chunks or shiny things.
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Old Dec 17, 2006 | 05:58 PM
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Maintaining good clean fluid and filters in the tranny is very good preventive maintenance, however, it will very rarely (dare I say never?) fix a shifting concern that is already existent.

If you change the fluid and filter now, you may be dumping money into a bad tranny. Probably not, as the description you gave of the tranny sounds more like a sensor or something simple, but the possibility is still there that the tranny may be bad.

I would suggest that you have the car checked out to determine what the cause of the hard shifting was before putting money into the tranny.
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