Background: Hey guys my '03 monte ss has roughly 63K on it. I haven't changed the tranny fluid but i checked the level and it seems to be fine and the dealership i bought it from last August supposably changed all the fluids.

The problem: Every once in a while when I'm at a stop light and accelerate from rest there is a lag and sometimes a hard shift. It seems to only happen in 1st and a long shift occurs from 1st-2nd. After that everything seems to shift fine.

Resolution and suggestions: I guess I need some advice on how to go about this. Should I get my pcm tuned for more trans line pressure or would a shift kit solve my problem and make for firm better shifts?

The problem just started occuring and i would like to address it before something serious happens. Any other suggestions are welcome!

Thanks

 

i would look for someone in your area who has a tuner and set up a BEER for Tune deal! lol or some kinda trade. even on a stock car tuning can unlock a great deal of power.

as for which to do? do both! a shift kit doesnt cost much from ZZP or any of the sites. and if you can work something out for tuning it wont be much either for what you get.

 

You probably have the shift solenoid starting to go out on you. Honestly adjusting the pressures would probably just make the solenoid fail faster I would think.

 

two different sides, i appreciate the responses and a shift solendoid would be a lot more work and money than the shift kit and tune. And i like the idea of a beer for tune swap! I have someone in mind already.

But am i right to thinking it may be a pressure issue or like chibi said a solenoid going bad? What are the usual signs of a bad soleniod?

 

and how much does a solenoid replacement cost?

 

I've heard solenoid replacements cost between $800-$1000 because its a labor intensive job :/ which is why i was leaning towards a shift kit and/or tune but i don't want to do them if it will promote things to fail

 

So i figured i may as well follow up on my thread and report the findings. I'm happy to say that everything is working just as it should, but i found out that the dealership kind of ripped me off. After we agreed on all fluids being changed, i figured everything would be set for a while.....wrong they forgot to change the transmission fluid.

Thankfully it was simple and fairly cheap fix, just dropped the pan (got fluid everywhere, make sure you do this in the grass with a pan large enough to collect all the fluid and dispose of properly {thanks guys for informing me on the environment hazards} if you attempt to do this. i used ramps) changed the filter and filled up with drexon VI. Everything is back to normal and shifting great!

 

I hate to say it, but there is still a pretty good chance of it coming back IMO, especially since you haven't actually replaced any of the mechanical parts which would have caused it. I also think that doing a tune or shift kit is a bad idea to solve a mechanical problem in the trans.

I could be wrong, but I don't think that's a good idea- not good for the environment. Autozone sells these big flat metal pans that are more than big enough to catch any drippage from a trans fluid change (assuming you can catch most of it in a standard container).

 

Is that the DEQ I hear knocking at your front door.

 

If the shift solenoid is bad, you need to fix it before you cause permanent damage to the transmission. **** a tune, **** a shift kit, fix the solenoid(s)