My 96 lesabre is shifting hard it did this a couple years ago and I had a tranny flush done on it at a shop and it was fine, since then ive racked up quite a bit of miles and its doing it again. This time rather than dishing out a ton of money again id like to see how easy it is to do myself. If its relatively simple then I will. Is it at all similar to an oil change? or are there alot of steps involved?

I believe that is the 4t60 transmission. It'* easy to do, just messy. You will need a inch pound torque wrench. Put up on ramps. Your going to need a big catch basin, start removing the pan bolts, 10mm. This part is messy. There is a write up on changing the fluid on a 4t65e transmission in tech info, it'* basically the same. So you can follow that write up. Then look for the write up on installing a shift kit on a 4t60 transmission. This will explain how to remove the shift accumulator. Scuff up the walls of the accumulator and put back together. That should fix the hard shift.

lets say i wanted to skip the installing of the shift kit do i have to take the bottom plate off just to drain all the fluid?

If your 4T60-E transmission is shifting hard, the 1st thing that you want to do is to check the vacuum @ the modulator with a vacuum gauge to see if it has enough vacuum (approx 15" @ idle) and if the vacuum drops when you stab the gas pedal. The other thing is to see if the modulator is sucking fluid.

You can get most of it out without taking the bottom pan off. But you may as well change the filter. I'm not suggesting you install a shift kit. I'm suggesting scuffing up the cylinder walls. When the pistons in there stick, you get a harsh shift.

I have also seen broken accumulator springs, which will give you a hard shift.
It is not hard to do. If you take the accumulator body apart to scuff up the walls, replace the seals too.
You will notice a big difference.

If you remove the upper trans line that goes to the radiator you can use the trans pump to pump the fluid into a container ( I use a 5 gallon bucket). Turn the engine on for a few seconds and guestamate how much fluid you have pumped out. When you get a couple quarts out stop the engine and add 2 quarts of new fluid in the dip stick tube. Repeat the process 5 or 6 times untill the fluid coming out looks like new. I would change the fluid every 40-50,000 miles, and both the fluid and the filter ever other time. Be carefull not to run the pump dry, that could cause serious damage.

Make sure you look into upgrading to the latest tranny fluid for your Buick, Dexron VI. I am extremely pleased with it. It is more expensive, but Wal-Mart has it at a much lower price than the auto part stores.

If you are unable to do the pan removal, You can always do the siphon out the dipstick flush. Do it three times, Some on this board do not endorse it (dipstick flush(, but I believe the upgrade to Dexron VI solves many issues, and a dip stick flush done three times to Dexron VI is a great improvement over doing nothing. Personally,I think I dipstick flush, done three times with Dexron VI will have a bigger impact than dropping the pan, and replacing with Dexron III.

i can see getting the fluid out via the dipstick but it doesnt make sense not to drop the pan for the filter, they are meant for a service interval if you exceed that you are asking for trouble.

dan and sgp know what they are talking about, i think she needs to try what they suggest.

I'd strongly recommend a pan drop fluid and filter change, Swap out the square magnet with 2 round magnets (AC & GM Part #29535617). And yes, Dex VI is the cat'* meow. After that every few thousand miles you can pump out about 4 quarts of trans fluid through the dipstick tube and replace with fresh Dex VI. By the time your transmission is ready for the next pan drop, your transmission will have a majority of it'* fluid Dex VI. Avoid commercial flushes unless you can be sure that the shop uses 100% fresh DexVI in their machine and they're competent enough to hook the lines up right, i.e., not reverse flush.