At around 85,000 miles I had the transmission flushed. Shortly after that the xmission started shifting hard on the upshift, on each upshift in the shifting range. Then after stopping the car I noticed that the problem wen't away. Then periodically the problem would return. With experimentation I discovered that this always happens after the xmission is warmed up and after braking to a stop.It also appeared to happen most always after stopping at certain distinct locations around town. Further experimentation showed that when this happens if I stop the car for a short time, as short as 15 seconds, the problem will disappear. This only works if you stop the engine. What's so mind boggling is that I can take a trip for a hundred or more miles and every thing is just fine but If I drive the 12 miles to town and stop at a particular 2 or 3 different stops the problem pops up. What's going on? Seems like maybe some type of rf interference is doing something to the computer. Anybody out there have an answer?
Update from Jan 22, 2013: I never resolved the above problem, but I found a way to work around it and it has never failed. Do this when coming to a stop. When nearly stopped shift the xmission into drive 2. Keep it in drive 2 until you leave the stop. After the xmission makes it's first shift, then shift into drive 3. After the xmission makes it's next shift, then shift into drive. If you do this it will stop the hard shift problem and probably save your xmission from destruction. You must follow the outlined procedure every time you come to a stop. If you are in slow heavy traffic with a lot of stops just leave in drive 2 or 3 until clear of that situation.It's a little extra work but it's a lot less annoying than those slam-bang shifts. Besides it's kind of fun to manual shift. It works for me. Try it if you are bugged by the same problem that I had. Also I will tell you that if you just shift into drive 3 when stopping it works most of the time, but fails sometimes, but going to drive 2 has never failed for me. Hope it works for you.
Update from Mar 28, 2015: The problem was easy and reasonable to fix. The pressure control solenoid was replaced. It requires no teardown. There is a plate oh the side of xmission that gives access to the solenoid. I had the solenoid replaced for $285 and that includes new fluid and filter. The xmission never shifted so smoothly as it now does. I have approx 10K miles on it since repair, still working fine. Hope this keeps someone from getting ripped off by exorbitant estimates such as $1100 or so.
At around 85,000 miles I had the transmission flushed. Shortly after that the xmission started shifting hard on the upshift, on each upshift in the shifting range. Then after stopping the car I noticed that the problem wen't away. Then periodically the problem would return. With experimentation I discovered that this always happens after the xmission is warmed up and after braking to a stop.It also appeared to happen most always after stopping at certain distinct locations around town. Further experimentation showed that when this happens if I stop the car for a short time, as short as 15 seconds, the problem will disappear. This only works if you stop the engine. What's so mind boggling is that I can take a trip for a hundred or more miles and every thing is just fine but If I drive the 12 miles to town and stop at a particular 2 or 3 different stops the problem pops up. What's going on? Seems like maybe some type of rf interference is doing something to the computer. Anybody out there have an answer?
Update from Jan 22, 2013: I never resolved the above problem, but I found a way to work around it and it has never failed. Do this when coming to a stop. When nearly stopped shift the xmission into drive 2. Keep it in drive 2 until you leave the stop. After the xmission makes it's first shift, then shift into drive 3. After the xmission makes it's next shift, then shift into drive. If you do this it will stop the hard shift problem and probably save your xmission from destruction. You must follow the outlined procedure every time you come to a stop. If you are in slow heavy traffic with a lot of stops just leave in drive 2 or 3 until clear of that situation.It's a little extra work but it's a lot less annoying than those slam-bang shifts. Besides it's kind of fun to manual shift. It works for me. Try it if you are bugged by the same problem that I had. Also I will tell you that if you just shift into drive 3 when stopping it works most of the time, but fails sometimes, but going to drive 2 has never failed for me. Hope it works for you.
Update from Mar 28, 2015: The problem was easy and reasonable to fix. The pressure control solenoid was replaced. It requires no teardown. There is a plate oh the side of xmission that gives access to the solenoid. I had the solenoid replaced for $285 and that includes new fluid and filter. The xmission never shifted so smoothly as it now does. I have approx 10K miles on it since repair, still working fine. Hope this keeps someone from getting ripped off by exorbitant estimates such as $1100 or so.
- Willard C., blue creek, OH, US