Saturn SC2 Jerking Problem

I'm posting this for my friend he has a 1997 Saturn SC2 automatic. When he driving and it changes into the last gear it starts jerking like its having problems getting into that gear, but if you slam the gas pedal down it goes away. This all occurs during 1,500 rpms in last gear whatever that is (4th or 5th). Any suggestions on whats wrong or how to fix this? thanks.

numerous things. if hes lucky its going to be something outside on the engine. if he isnt lucky he is probably looking at a bad torque converter. no trouble codes? see at those rpms and 4th gear, it could be wires or something ignition wise. but on saturns they will normally always pick up a slight misfire before you even know. have you tried pulling a hill in 4th at those rpms? go to a hill at thsoe rpms and hold the gas steady till half way up and start to give it a little gas, not enough to downshift, and see if it starts doing it like non stop. has the transmission been flushed and filter changed? this is what would probably cause the torque converter to go bad. sludge will build up and damage transmission internals. if nothing else, maybe try and have the transmission flushed, hell maybe twice, and have the filter changed. saturn transmissions are easy things to deal with especially since they have a drain plug and an external filter. if you do mess with transmission, do not just drain the fluid and put a filter on! that will still leave the old fluid in the torque converter and all that sludge, and the new fluid will probably break the sludge down and cause even more damage.

We have tried it on a hill thats when it does it the most. I dont have a saturn code reader only a mustang code reader. I was thinking possibly torque converter but i was hoping it wasnt... bleck. Do you suggest like AAMCO Power Flush thingy? Another friend of mine said they sell no slip tranny substance. Is it possible to try that? or would that damage the internals even more? Trying everything to stop from paying a lot of money.

ok you say it does it the most on the hills, replace the wires and spark plugs. dont go cheap here, get napa belden, dealer(ac delco), or msd. im not sure which is the cheapest but i spent $50 on msd wires. also for plugs get ac delco rapidfire(i dont know the code for them) or ngk bkr5esa-11. gap them at .040. from the many cars ive dealt with that had this problem, its always been with the ignition. and for like oh $60 its worth replacing anyways.

also any obd2 code reader will work on any car with obd2 emissions. you can probably go to auto zone and just get the codes and relay the codes back on here. they dont know what the probelm will be, especially if a code p0304 pops up since they will look up a cam sensor and there is no cam sensor on a saturn.

changed spark plugs, new air filter, topped off fluid runs like a champ now. thanks for your help.

no problem.