I'd first like to thank you guys for the great resource you've created here.

I purchased my 01 Monte SS almost a year to this date with 63k on it, about 5k in I started noticing a little shaking when taking some of the faster offramps and turning to the right as well as a little 'clicking' in the steering at times when turning either way.

Brought it to dealer and they couldn't find an issue, had a check engine light pop up about 1k later which I bought back to the dealer for as well as asking them to take a second look as the previously mentioned issues.

I was told it was a 'missed shift point' error in the computer and was common with these vehicles in the winter and can be caused by spinning the tires on road sand sometimes and everything was fine.

By the time I had 8k on the car it felt like the car was literally going to shake apart if I gave it gas. I've also noticed during certain shifts I get the same violent shakes when the car is rolling at a low speed and I gun it to make a turn or catch a green light.

The shake is only getting worse and gives a pretty good skae at this point any time I go above 60 on the highway.

I've spent a few grand at this point between repairs suggested here and rental cars and was told today by a second mechanic it may be the transmission clutches?

Two things I have noticed is when its hot out and I'm driving in bumper to bumper traffic the 1-2-3 gear changes hit very hard, also if I need to shift from drive to reverse back into drive to say fit in a parking spot that second shift back to drive hits really hard.

So far we've changed the wheel hubs, some bar (sorry can't remember the name) in the front end, new tires, alignment, and checked all the axles.

Does anyone here think it could be the tranny? I've never heard of someone going to a tranny shop and not being told they need a new one so I'm a bit skeptical and the few rebuilds I've had in the past never lasted more than a year.

I love the car and bought it for it's comfort, looks and the great things I've read about the engines but unfortunately didn't do enough digging to see all the tranny issues these cars have had

Financially I'm spent from all this work and would need to take a loan from a family member to cover a rebuild/replacement. If I go for it and it dies I'm SOL with no way to get to work so buying something new may a better route for me but I definately cn't afford anything nearly as comfortable or sexy looking with a loan.

 

Usually a dealer can PinPoint the issue, but a missed shift point might have something to do with tranny solenoid? maybe you can have it tested to confirm.

 

sounds like a clogged or bad solenoid. sometimes the issue can be intermittent too. be sure to change fluid and filter after changing it.

 

Man that's tough-sounds like you've chased this issue all over.

This seems stupid, but the engine mounts aren't loose or anything? You said it's worse when you give it gas? Just a thought...

Hope you find it soon, let us know how it goes.

 

Not sure about the shaking, the hard shifts sounds like the pcs (pressure control solenoid) failed, it'll shift fine when cold, but once it gets up to temperature it starts slamming into gear, I've had 2 cars that the solenoid failed on, what sucks is its close to a grand to change that solenoid if its the issue if you take it to the dealer. I don't exactly know how it fails all I know is once it does and it warms up the tranny has an adaptive shift, supposed to keep shifts smooth I thought, but what'll happen is the tranny will increase the shifts to max line pressure to ensure it shifts. To my knowledge it'll be code p1811