Transmission

[stroker]

Good Morning All......I have a slight problem with my tranny in the morning. It shifts into R with no problem but when I shift into D after backing out it takes at least a minute to go into gear. I checked the fluid level and its OK... I dont know if it is mechanical or electrical of whatever....Once the car is driven it never happens again until the next morning... Any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks, Bobby

[steve2006]

Will it shift into 2 or 1 straight away? There have been reports of sticky shift solenoids,when was the last time the fluid was changed?

[landar]

Are you sure the level is ok? Mine will do that same thing if even a 1/2 qt low. Add a 1/2 qt as a test and see if it helps. It won't hurt even if it is full and you can always drain it back out.

[fsuguy]

Hi,

Since you already checked the fluid level (hopefully you checked with the engine running, if not, redo this with the engine running, or at least use the directions from the manual to do so!), low fluid may not be the problem. The following suggestions are conditioned on the transmission not being abused and having the parts like clutch bands, etc., being damaged!! Since the car is a '91, I believe any one or more of the following could be the source of the problem you are experiencing.

You probably have the A341E transmission which has 4 shift solenoids controlling fluid flow in the valve body. Two of these (#1 & #2)control the shifting of gears, the 3rd and 4th solenoids, serve to damp the shifting so hard shifts are minimized, and for lockup). If either #1 or #2 are gummed up or failing it would be a cause for shifting issues (ruling out any other mishap, like melted/shorted wiring, bad connections, etc.). If this is the source, the fix is relatively inexpensive (approx. $300 for the pair from some dealers) - replace the two solenoids: an easy bolt on operation, but you will have to remove about 19 bolts and take down the tran-oil pan - a pain in the ***. Testing the solenoids off the car is the surest way to find out for certain if they are bad/going south. There may ways to test w/o taking off the pan and some of the gurus on LOC may have a good idea of how to do that.

Another source for the transmission behavior could be a clogged filter - least expensive, given other things are not the cause; will need to drop the tran-pan and do the bolts thing here as well. Resist suggestions to have the tranny machine flushed, no matter what!

Another more expensive and serious possibility is that your seals inside the tranny are shot - over time these harden and do not provide the sealing that fresh, flexible seals do, preventing the appropriate pressure buildup required for proper shifting. Often this will manifest as a gradual degradation in shifting - slow to shift into gears, till eventually the transmission will not shift at all. If this is what is happening to you, a complete overhaul or a new tranny is the only option ($$$).

For what it's worth, my '92 began acting up by not going into reverse immediately, then it took longer and longer to shift into reverse; the problem migrated to 1st and 2nd before I decided to get drastic. In the meantime I checked the fluid level, filter, solenoids, electronics, engine, etc., etc., to no avail. Finally, took it to a transmission rebuilder and had a complete rebuild - was told all the seals had hardend and were virtually useless. Note: Shop failed to replace my shift solenoids during the overhaul and I had intermittents shifting issues till I replaced them with new ones.

Hope this helps

[fsuguy]

...additional note: you can use the onboard computer to determine whether the solenoids are tripping a warning - requires you to jump the diagnostic connectors in the On Board Diagnostics port (see the manual or the lexls site for correct connections) and count the flashes on the instrument cluster. Sorry, forgot about mentioning that tool in the previous post.