Hard shifting SL2

mudpie · 07-19-2007, 01:07 AM

I have a 2001 Saturn SL2 DOHC, automatic transmission with about 115,000 miles. I haven't really had an serious problems up until now.

Two weeks ago, I went to start the car and nothing - dead. AAA came and gave me a boost. Made it about 10 miles, stopped at a stop light and dead again. AAA came again and towed me home. I changed the battery (only 2 years old) and was fine.

A week after that, I started driving to work and found that I suddenly had a serious shifting problem. Hard shifting through the gears as I accelerated. Third gear is particularly violent. Reverse is bad also. Checked the fluid level and found that it was really low. So, I added fluid but problem persisted.

Took car to a friend of a friend whoâs a mechanic. He hooked it up to a Snap-On diagnostic machine. Only code that came up was âPower-Loss due to Battery Failureâ. He recommended I take it to a transmission shop. I took it there. They said that it was the ECM and suggested I take it to the dealer.

My understanding is that ECMs donât go bad very often. Is there something else I can check? Iâve had some bad experiences with my local Saturn dealer and really donât want to go back. If I have to go there, Iâll like to be able to speak intelligently or at least understand what they are talking about.

Any help and/or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Blue00SL2 · 07-19-2007, 02:02 AM

Hey Bro

Sounds to me since she's an Auto-tragic Tranny 1 of 2 things, from the experience I had when my '00 SL2 had an Auto-tragic Tranny.

1. Your Valve Body is going bad.

And/Or

2. Your Tourque Converter is going bad.

As I said, when I hada Auto-tragic Tranny, the RPM's would be real high and the engine would Rev up but I'd barely be moving. Then she'd speed up a little and shift hard into 2nd Gear, then again high Revs but picking up speed REAL SLOW. Then it'd shift into 3rd Gear and so on. It was a bad Valve Body.

Then there was another time that it would just stall out when the engine was on and I was in Drive but stopped (either at a Red Light or a Stop Sign). It'd just F'n turn off, So I had to put the Auto-tragic Tranny into Neutral when I was stopped, Rev up and Drop it (Dump the *****) into Drive and still sometimes The ***** would stall. Then I lost Reverse all together. Took her to a Tranny Shop and it was a Bad Torque Converter.

So after blowing up like 5 Auto-tragic Trannies (Diff pin gave out and
Toe-up/Blowed-up the internals). Sooo, I finally had it swapped to a 5 Speed. Now I gotta SZP Racing Short Shifter and an ACT Street Performance Clutch.

**Ssicarman** · 07-19-2007, 02:22 AM

Welcome to the Board.

An alternator that is not charging properly can cause the auto trans to do strange things. I would get the alt checked before checking anything more on the trans.

SL2 Cruiser · 07-19-2007, 04:45 AM

Its a long shot but the easiest thing to check is the fuses that control the transmission shifting. There's two or three and they're in the under hood fuse block. I can't remember offhand which ones they are but check your owners manual, I think they're labeled "TCC" "TC1-2" or something like that.