Hello all, first off, i'm new here, not really mechanically inclined, and i'm posting from my phone, so please excuse my ignorance and the formatting. Anyways here's the deal.

I've got an 02 3800 MCSS with a couple problems.
(90k miles on the body, 75 on the engine) I bought it through a friend that owns a car shop and had it sitting for a while (3months maybe?). They switched out the engine and replaced 3 wheel hubs due to a traction abs light problem. (from what I know the traction control problem is fairly common with this year am i right...?)

Now on to the fun stuff.

First of all ive got some type of rubbing/grinding/ticking noise comming from the right side of my car. At first I thought it was the brakes, but i'm not positive about it. mainly because it only does it when i'm going between 10-15 mph any faster and it stops, it also seems like it does it louder right after slam on the brakes. Another thing to note is that it seems like the sound speed changes depending on how fast i'm going (it speeds up if I go faster). I was just curious if anyone knew what this might be or if they had any advice for this.


Now my main problem is the trans. When I first got it the car wouldn't shift past 2nd... This is when the fun started... In the past 2 months there have been a total of 4 different transmissions in the car... The second 2 would shift hard and then it wouldn't shift past 3rd after a week or so. After a while they (the shop) finally decided to switch parts places and got a different one. Now they finally tell me that they didn't have the exact same year but same model etc on the last 2 transmissions. And supposedly the one they put in was finally going to be the winner. However after a week of driving it started to act up. It would clunk slightly after shifting, then after a half hour or so it seem to wind for a half second longer when it was shifting from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd. This is when I realized that It wouldn't shift beyond 3rd. If it sits for a couple hours it'll go back to clunking till it heats up, then back to not shifting right. Are they/am I really having that bad of luck with the transmissions? or is there something else that could be causing it like some sort of safety feature or something? maybe an electrical problem?... I am so lost/ confused about this I'm just sick of it... I just want to drive my baby!... So please please please any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. If there's any more info you need or would be helpful for diagnosing i'll get back to you asap. Thankyou in advance for anything you can tell me!...

(p.s. if it matters at all everything is stock on the car (besides the fact the engine/trans got swapped, and I have an in dash multimedia center/kicker L7 in the trunk)

 

Well the rubbing/grinding/ticking noise is either a wheelbearing or an axle or CV joint. The transmission, I would honestly find someone else to work on it because it sounds like whoever is doing the work doesn't know anything. I mean, no offense if it's your buddy...but lets be real here. Take it to a good transmission shop and have the job done RIGHT. 90k miles on this car with a new motor you should have a lot of time with this car. Keep us updated and welcome to the forum.