Thread: Gears jumping around?

For the second time in the past week I have been driving and had the tranny feel like it either slipped out of gear or couldn't decide what gear to be in. I believe it would be in overdrive when this happened, but it happened too quickly to be sure. I have checked the fluid and it looks and smells fine. I was also turning in a parking lot today and it seemed to jump a bit when turning left into a spot. I was thinking of taking it to my old work and having them flush it for me, or would it be better to drop the pan and change the filter too? I doubt it has ever been done on this car before.
Thanks

It seems to be getting worse now tonight, it acted like it was slipping going up a small hill. Is there a kickdown cable or anything that can be adjusted before I have it looked at? This problem has seemed to come out of nowhere and I don't abuse the car at all. Any input is appreciated.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

Kickdown cable? Um, these are electronic transmissions.

Yeah, I realize that now after doing some reading. My brother is going to take it to his friend at a tranny shop tomorrow to get it scanned.

Originally Posted by Trannyman95

Definately have the car scanned, sounds like you are already on that path, and let us know if anything turns up. Does this problem only happen on the highway while crusing in 4th gear? It may be the lockup clutch in the torque converter slipping too much and a low pressure condition is preventing the pcm from allowing enough pressure to overcome the slippage. Valve body wear is a common issue with these transmissions and can cause lockup slippage problems. A road test with a scan tool hooked up will not only show commanded pressure but will also show TCC apply % and slippage which may be your problem area.

The car is going to be getting scanned today. It doesn't just happen on the highway, I noticed last night that it seems to act like it's slipping a bit when I go to accellerate after turning a corner. I should know more tonight. I am really hoping it's something that can be repaired without removal of the tranny.

Originally Posted by Trannyman95

Slipping after turning a corner is very characteristic of low fluid. Did you check the fluid level with the engine running, warmed up, and in Park position? Was it all the way to the full line? A failing pressure control solenoid will also cause problems like this as well as a number of other internal wear areas but that is a common part to go bad.

Yes I did check the fluid properly and all seemed to be good. I had my brother take the car into Mr transmission where a friend of his works and he took it on a road test with the scanner hooked up and said that everything is working the way it should be and all looks good. I guess I will drive it over the weekend and see if I have any other issues and then I am going to get a good filter kit from gm and change the fluid and filter. Is there any conditioners or anything that you would reccomend using with the filter change or just a good transmission fluid? Thanks for all your help!
Josh.

Originally Posted by Trannyman95

A filter and fluid change is the safest to do. I am not a big fan of additives though the Lubegard Red trans additive is a great product and also recently there has been talk of the Lucas transmission additive helping out. Keep in mind that if an additive fixes anything that it is going to be temporary as there is a problem at hand that is causing the abnormal condition and an additive may at best mask the problem.

Thank you for all your help! I don't think I will add anything to it seeing as no problems show up with the scanner and maybe what happened was just a fluke with the cold weather seeing as is has dropped into the negatives pretty far around here recentlly. I will do a fluid and filter change next week and see how things are. Thanks again for your help and information!

i had that problem a while back with my 02 GT and i changed the shift solenoid and the problem went away. havent had it since and its been about 8 months. when i scanned the car no codes came up or anything so i just went with my fathers suggestion as he specialize in transmissions. also where the shift solenoid goes on the valve body if you stick your finger in there and push the valve in it may stick. that could be a problem as well. just a heads up. good luck with the car

Originally Posted by crazyGPlover

i had that problem a while back with my 02 GT and i changed the shift solenoid and the problem went away. havent had it since and its been about 8 months. when i scanned the car no codes came up or anything so i just went with my fathers suggestion as he specialize in transmissions. also where the shift solenoid goes on the valve body if you stick your finger in there and push the valve in it may stick. that could be a problem as well. just a heads up. good luck with the car

Which solenoid did you change because my understanding is there is one for each gear. I had it all checked out and they are apparantlly all working the way they are supposed to so I figure I will see if the issue persists after I change the fluid and filter and go from there. I kinda figure if a tranny shop could find any potential issue to do work on the car they would have. Thanks for the input!

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

There are two shift solenoids. The 1-2 and the 2-3.

Thanks for clearing that up! I am trying to gain more knowledge by reading a bunch of the posts. I've never had much experience with transmissions before.

I got the fluid and filter changed out the other day and it seemed to be fairly clean for the most part. I also had a bad thermostat that was not letting the car get up to operating temp and was told that that might have been making the trans shift funny due to the tps reading or something. Car seems to be running great now so hopefully there is no more problems! Thanks for everyones help!

I have noticed a few times where it's still seems to jump kind of hard, in or out of lockup I believe. No idea what the deal is, I figure if it keeps doing this I will take it to the tranny shop again and get them to scan it once more.