Hello,

New to this forum but I've been looking around. I bought this car about a month ago in Illinois with about 62,000 miles. Car was real well maintained with detailed service records but lately I've had some strange transmission shifting action going on. Two problems, first of which seems to be worse when the car is cold. It seems to surge or hunt for the shift point from 1st to 2nd if you're just easing into the gas. If you goose it from a start it doesn't surge/hunt but seems to shift rather harsh. Problem seems to get better as the car warms up. Second odd behavior: Most noticeable when the car is warmed up--Turning a corner when your speed drops to about 15 miles an hour or so. After turning and stepping back on the gas, the motor revs to about 2k rpms before the tranny grabs. It almost acts like it's not shifting back into low gear when you're turning and then the motor winds out and forces the shift.

Fluid and filter service was done on this tranny at about 58,000 so I know it doesn't need that. Fluid is full, nice and red, doesn't smell burnt or look odd in any way. Highway speeds and downshifting are fine, just low speed driving seems to be the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

i would take it to a dealer or a transmission shop, these cars are bad about shift solenoids and pressure control solenoids and not to mention input speed sensors messing up.

pressure control solenoid went out on my 95, the dealer wanted 2500 to fix a $50 part. so i didn't change it right away and it ended up tearing up my transmission.

I have the same problem- at least the one where there is a hard shift between 1 and 2. My transmission guy said a code showed up which indicates you have some sort of a $450 problem. My car has just about the same miles as yours and I drive it in Illinois. I have not detected a pattern of any type. It last a few shifts and goes away. The first rec they give is to replace the fluid but that didn't really solve it for me and it sounds like it won't for you.

This kind of garbage- transmission going out at 50k miles takes me back the first car I remember my family owning. A 58 Buick Roadmaster. Tranny problems all the time. I see that in 44 years GM has not solved their transmission issues.

I have driven Lexus for the past 9 years and thought I would give US a try since I heard how much the quality has improved. Never did a thing to either Lexus at up to 90k miles. Now I am remembering why I got away from American. This is horse manure. I have learned my lesson. You get what you pay for. Sad.

threebanger ---> did your check engine soon light ever come on? I've had this same issue -- I notice a lot in stop and go traffic on the interstate where you get up to like 40, have to slam on your breaks then get on it again. I've never had my check engine light come on though, and autozone told me if it didn't come on, then there wouldn't be any codes to read. Is that an accurate statement??

Nope, no check engine light. Had the car scanned and it shows no codes in memory at all. On the other hand, I don't know if the check engine light is working. On every other car I've owned, when you turn the key to "on" various indicators light up to show that they do indeed illuminate. The ce light never comes on.

Just playing around with the shifting issues, I've found that if I manually shift to second before taking a corner that the slippage doesn't occur. Maybe because I've already forced the shift and I'm not relying on various speed and pressure sensors. I had a transmission guy drive the car and he feels that it's either the band or a sprague slipping. I'll get a few other opinions before I make a decision as to drive it until it drops, get it fixed or replaced.

I thought in an earlier reply that your CE light didn't come on, but the transmission guy said a code showed up still regarding a $450 problem. If your CE light didn't come on, and you still recieved a code ---> I want to get mine scanned right away.

newoldsguy is right on! SAD. My Dad's Dodge Ram 1500 trans has about had it with only 80k mi. No towing and regular fluid changes too. The American side of the industry has managed to convince a whole generation of "buy American" customers that a vehicle has essentially justified its purchase price at about 75k mi. and anything past that is a gift. Like the motor oil companies recommending their "high mileage" formulas for your old junker with 76k mi. on it. Gimme a break! Nothing matches Japanese engineering, regardless of where it's assembled. I'm done.

Dodge has been known for quite a long time as having questionable transmissions in their vehicles. That being said...I've owned a '95 Ram w/ the 5.9(360 cid), tow package and had about 75,000 on it when I traded it in. No tranny problems at that time but maybe I got lucky. I currently own a '99 Durango w/ about 75,000 and no transmission problems either. I always serviced the trannys on these vehicles well before the manufacturer said it needed to be done but again, sometimes you get lucky with a vehicle and sometimes you get hosed. I still have a '91 Maxima with about 180,000 on the ticker with nothing but normal maintenance done to it and it still runs great. Being from MN, the body is falling apart but the motor/drivetrain is sound. What does this all mean? I guess it goes back to what I've heard for a long time about buying American vehicles that were built on a Friday or a Monday....the odds of having a good vehicle go way down. Or so they say. Anyway, I like the Aurora but if it means tossing a lot of ching down the drain for an unreliable vehicle, well then it's going down the road and I'll buy another Japanese vehicle. Does that make me un-American? No. It makes me a consumer who expects to get good value for the money I'm spending.

Nothing matches Japanese engineering, regardless of where it's assembled. I'm done.

Now come on Indy... What about teutonic engineering? :)

$80,000 Mercedes Benz's have higher defect rate than Hyundas.

$80,000 Mercedes Benz's have higher defect rate than Hyundas.

Which are of course Korean, not Japanese. I'm honestly not disagreeing about most of the Japanese cars- just being a wise a**.

Coincidentally my other car is a 2001 Hyundai Sonata. The only thing that's broken in 50,000 miles is the power antenna, and you've gotta love a bumper to bumper 60k mile warranty.

I have a '95 Aurora as well and had a similar transmission problem at 80K miles or so. The owner of a local transmission shop said that 95 Auroras are notorious for a certain transmission defect that he learned about in a continuing education class. He installed what he said was a GM kit to solve the problem and the transmission has worked well ever since (currently 138K miles on the car). As I recall, the cost of repair was in the $400 range.

I had what sounded similar. One dealer told me the shift solenoid needed replacing at a cost of something like $1700. I called another dealer who said the PCM card on these has been going bad. He swapped it out and it ran like a top for only $200.

my 2 cents.