PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Hi all! How is everybody? I haven't posted in awhile, mostly because my Bonnie has been doing alright, and have been busy with life in general. Here is the problem:

I was leaving from somewhere the other day (about 10 days ago), and my transmission wouldn't find 2nd gear. Would.not.find.it. The RPM's just kind of kept climbing (I didn't let it go past 3500 RPM), and it just wouldn't engage. I took it out of D and put it into 3, and eventually it engaged and I was on my way. It doesn't happen "every" time I get in the car, but the last couple days it's gotten worse. I do have an appointment scheduled to do a fluid exchange and replace the filter, and I'm sure if there's anything in the pan that will give a clue, but I'm concerned - I don't have $1200-$1500 to do a transmission repair. Previously I had been monitoring my trans fluid, and A.) it's STILL topped off as it's been the last 40K miles, and B.) up until just recently, it hasn't smelled burnt.....but now it does. We (like most of the country) had a pretty hard winter here in Indiana, so I wasn't as diligent at monitoring it then (I just couldn't get into messing with the car with it being -20F out!)

I researched additives and decided to go with K&W Trans-X: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... 92808_0_0_. I plan to pump siphon out as much fluid as I can tomorrow (I'm hoping to get at least three quarts out, maybe more), replace it with fresh fluid, and put the additive in. I'm doing a full fluid exchange/filter replacement this following Wednesday (not a flush though...I know there will be several quarts of old fluid left in the torque converter), but that's still four more days of driving, with every mile I drive doing my tranny no favors at this point.

Here's the good news/other info: ONCE it eventually "finds" 2nd gear - it doesn't "clunk" into gear, or "drop" into gear (it doesn't shift hard into 2nd), it shifts pretty smoothly. Also, from 2nd-3rd and 3rd-4th are just fine and smooth, and on the highway it still runs like a champ and I'm getting good MPG, it's just that dang 1st-2nd shift that it's really having a hard time with. Opinions? I CAN'T do a rebuild right now, I just can't....don't have the $$$. Oh, the car has 181K on it, I've only had it since 147K miles. Give it to me straight, what are your opinions on what it could be? Anybody had similar symptoms and a fluid/filter exchange helped it? Anybody used an additive that relieved the symptoms? Am I looking at a rebuild/new tranny? I admit, I've never had tranny problems, and have NEVER been diligent about changing tranny fluid with ANY of my cars I've owned (I've owned a few), because I didn't realize it was necessary - so, I don't really have a clue as to how many thousands of miles could be on the current fluid that's in there. Could be original fluid for all I know. Does the fact that all the other shifts are still good even mean anything in relation to this? Or could it just be that the clutch plates for 1st-2nd and/or the shift solenoid are going out, and that's that? Ugh. Tell me something good. Encourage me. If you can. Thanks!

UPDATE: The morning after posting this, I was able to pump 1 gallon of tranny fluid out in about 3 minutes with the handy siphon pump that I bought. That was good. I then replaced the 4 quarts of said tranny fluid with the cheapest Dex VI that I could get (knowing that on Wednesday, two days from now, it was all getting drained and replaced again anyway), and the K&W additive. I proceeded to take some back roads with a lot of stop signs/stop lights. Off my first stop sign, I was a little worried - the shift behavior still existed. However, by the third or fourth stop and go - IT SHIFTED NORMALLY! YAY!!! And has ever since. Not only that, it seems the farther I drive, the smoother it's shifting (the additive maybe doing it's thing??). Either way, I'm not replacing this transmission any time soon, and I'm very thankful that it will only be about a $250 fix instead of a $1500 fix. Shame on me for not keeping up with the tranny fluid changes. NOW I know, and I'll keep up from now on. Full drain and fill (NOT flush) and filter replacement scheduled for two days from now. The problem is gone, but there was still about 3 quarts of nasty tranny fluid in there, plus what I'm sure is a completely saturated filter in there, so it's still getting done.

Final story - everything looked actually pretty good. I used a personal mechanic (as opposed to one out of a large shop with the insurance rules where you can't be on the floor, etc.) to do the pan drop/filter replacement/fluid change, and I sat and watched the whole thing...even looked at some fluid samples and the pan and filter as they came off. It looked good. No shrapnel or metal bits on the pan magnet! Yay! So, it must have been a gunked up plate or stuck solenoid or something. Whatever it was, it's working fine now. What we DID find though, is that front drivers side motor mount is shot - that engine moves a bunch of inches. Time for a new motor mount! That will be done relatively quickly.