Thread: Any NW Chicago Sururb people? Need advice...

Hello,

Now this is an odd question given that this is mostly a DIY site but I was wondering if I could get a recommendation to get a potential transmission (well, I suspect) diagnosed in the NW Chicago suburbs area (Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates/Elgin/Arlington Heights/Palatine etc). Honestly, I am willing to drive a bit since I am trying to figure out this "hard-shifting" issue for a while now. Since it happens sporadically when I've taken it into the mechanics, one of which was GM itself, there were not able to trigger the problem. I've actually paid a diagnostic fees twice and no headway . I know everyone here is a DIYer, but I figured that maybe some of you work at an auto shop? used to work at a shop?.

Also is there place to take some classes to speed up my learning process like at Harper College, College of DuPage, some local automotive school in the area?
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Main Issue : My car has been having issues with what I believe is hard-shifting for some years now even though I have been good about getting transmission flushes. I bought the car new and as far back as 2004, I remember this happening on just 1-2 gear and at the time I determined that it seems to occur when I let my gas run until its basically on E or the gas-light comes on, so I stopped doing that. I also did a fuel injector cleaning service with Jiffy as that was recommended to me when I told them about it. It specifically got worse and very frequent and on all 4 gears last summer after bought Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner and poured in my gas tank. This was my attempt to see if DIY "fuel injector cleaning " would help, but it got worse. If I'm in stop-and-go traffic, it automatically kicks/jerks on ever gear. It only happens on acceleration. I actually had an episode where my brother was driving and he just slammed on the gas pedal and my car started stuttering/shaking a bit, but stopped as it got moving. I've experienced the same thing once before when I was going up an steep slope.

Last year, A mechanic did notice that I had a P1811 code and he said that it was due to a faulty PC Solenoid, but I've been going to have my code read every 2 months or so for a year now and that code has not re-appeared. Is that possible? Wouldn't it have showed up or gotten worse in the last year?

At this point, I just want to figure out what this means .... is it fixable or is it a sign that the transmission is going. I decided not to invest in the car and just ride it until it dies, but 1 year later and its still alive and kicking. I truly didn't think it would last past winter. I want to be able pin down this problem as
as I've put off other repairs (barely made it home today) since I thought the transmission ergo the car was dying.
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Sorry, this got a bit long.

Thanks in advance.

I had two transmissions replaced this year. First was by gator trans in wheeling and I would not recommend them. Good customer service, but i had lots of problems afterwards (they still haven't gotten it 100% right).

The second was in my 97 GTP. I took it to advanced trans in arlington heights. They did an excellent job with the trans but they had my car for over a month! So they do a good job but suck with customer service.

I'm curious as to how good of a job Trans-Fixed does. The guys who run the shop are both cool as hell. The shop cars that they drag race are pretty crazy. 60's camaro that does 10's and i believe a 90's trans am thats also built.

If you ever need your injectors cleaned and/or balanced, casper's electronics in mundelien does it dirt cheap.

Triton college offers an automotive program along with lincoln tech and a bunch of others.

Come to Woody in Elgin, that's where I work. Ask for your car to be done by Dino, he's our transmission guy. Good guy who also is ****ing pro at transmissions.

Konnig, that's where I took my car in March and no luck. I think the main issue is that the hard-shifting is sporadic so if they can't trigger it, then they can diagnose it.

Thanks to all for the info. I did find a mechanic that was able to trigger the issue but his advice was given the age of my car (10 years, $139K miles) that is best to just get a new transmission when this one eventually fails. I don't have the paper work with me right now but its wasn't the PC solenoid.....I remember him mentioning this issue was on the GM Technical Service Bulletin.