Transmission Problem. Diagnosis please?

Hey guys, I've got a 99SE with the 3.8 engine in it. It's got 136,800 miles on it, and is in pretty good shape over all. But I'm noticing odd performance when I'm driving it. The car hesitates between shifts. It doesn't seem like it's slipping (as I've seen it described here), just a slight hesitation as opposed to the crisp shifts I saw from the car after having the fluid changed when I bought the car several months ago. Also, the tach dropps quickly when I remove my foot from the gas pedal, which I don't believe it used to be.

I remember the car hesitating a bit when shifting before I bought it, but thought the fluid change had solved that. One final thing, after reading I shouldn't have the tranny flushed I asked the dealer to just do a fluid and filter change. When I looked at the reciept the other day it indicated that they'd flushed the tranny. If the tranny IS screwed, do I have any recourse against the dealership? After all, it seems to me that they should be responsible for doing something bad for the car just like a doctor would be responsible for prescribing a bad combo of drugs.

Thanks in advance for the help.

so you have sluggish/long shifts? Does it do it worse when hot? 136K is good mileage for this tranny any other growls whines? Take it to AutoZone and get it scanned look for a possible 1811 (max adapt shift). This is caused by a worn out PCS (pressure control solenoid) it wears out and your tranny does not have good pressure rise which gives you bad shifts. unfortunately this is not a DIY unless your are very skilled and have lots of tools.

It does it right from the time I turn the key as near as I can tell. My local AutoZone claims they don't scan tranny or ABS codes, just engine, so I'll have to try to one near where I work tomorrow. I wasn't too worried about the milage because I bought the car from my parents. It was originally my dad's company car, and thus the first 70,000 miles of it's life were mostly highway. My mom owned it from '02-'05 and split time between driving it and another one of my dad's old company cars back and forth to work, so it didn't see too much stop and go driving it's entire life.

Any idea on a rough cost of a new PCS installed? Labor runs about $60 an hour in this area unless you're at a dealership, and I'll probably avoid them if I can.

Oh boy, so today it doesn't have the horsepower that it used to off the line. Not that I'm punching it or anything, but it just seemed a bit sluggish. At highway speeds it's fine. Am I still looking at PC Solenoid, or a totally new tranny? I'm taking it in tomorrow morning, but I want to at least sound like I know enough that the shop can't totally take me for a ride.

A PCS job runs about $400-$500. has the SES light ever been on? If it comes down to it have them replace the TCC PWM solenoid also. Did you stop by AZ for a scan?

The other AZ also claims they don't have the gear to to transmission scans, so I guess I'm stuck. The only good news is that I know a couple people who've used the shop I'm taking it to, and they've both had good results. The one guy's transmission replacement was under $1000 and includes a lifetime warrenty . *crosses fingers for good price * Thanks for all the help Troy.

Edit: the only time the SES light was on was after I really punched the throttle passing someone on the highway, and it was linked to a 3rd cylinder misfire. Cleared the code and havn't seen it again.

Just heard from the shop, and they're driving it and not pulling any codes at all. They're going to keep it overnight and take it for a longer drive tomorrow and try to find something, but right now they're telling me that it's in my imagination. :( I know the car used to shift more crisply. Is there anything inexpensive I can do to restore the crisp shifts I remember from just a couple weeks ago?

p1811 is set if the shift error goes above .75 of a second. Those closer your shift error is to that the longer the shifts will be. A long shift error usually points towards a worn PCS. If they can't find anything you can have them install a trango 4T65E shift kit. They can install new accumulator springs with just dropping the pan and pulling the accumulator body. I've got them in my car and it made a world of difference. The only thing this can hide/prolong the computer setting a P1811 good in some ways and bad in others. My car shifted EXTREAMLY aggressive for a day or two until the computer relearned the shift adapts. The other half of the shift kit requires pulling the side cover and valve body & chain cover don't have them do this its a lot of work, but for some strange reason they say it needs to be overhauled have them put it in. So find out what your shift times were the lower the better. You said that it didn't seem to have as much power this could be a engine related problem also bad MAF sensor can cause shifting issues along with a few other sensors.

Troy