1994 Grand Am GT Transmission

[USTommyMC]

Hello everyone, just found this forum and love it so far. Here is my problem. Every morning when I go to drive my car it does not shift from park to any other gear. I put it in drive and it just feels like its in neutral. If I let the car run for about 10 to 15 minutes then it will shift gears just fine. This also happens when I'm go to work and want to go home afterwards, the car won't shift. The only way that I can put the car into shift without waiting is by flooring the car (while in park) for two seconds or so and then the car will shift ( I know this is not good for the car). Only side affect to reving the car the for two seconds is that when I reach my first stop sign or stop light the car will go back to neutral and then jerk into drive because I have my foot on the gas trying to go before someone hits me. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this other than the possibility of a bad transmission?

[Tom94gaGT]

how many miles are on the car? have you had the fluid and filter changed ever?

first check the fluid level and the color. be careful when checking the fluid level becuase it can be pretty tricky to get a good reading off it. look for the color, it should be a reddish color, if it is brown and burnt smelling then it needs to be changed, if it is red then you might just be low on fluid. I had a simmilar problem (but not as severe as yours sounds) with my 94 gt for the last few weeks and i was 2 quarts low on trans fluid. After adding the fluid it has been shifting, driving like new. I would also reccomend overfilling it just a little over what the dipstick says as full, becuase there is usually some error when checking the level

[hockee]

i have the same problem as tommy anyone else

[catback23]

I've only seen this problem once, it was on a old GTO. You put it in drive and it would barely do anything even though the owner said it worked pretty good before. Turned out the owner, when he installed the engine and trans, didn't put the full amount of trans fluid in it. After topping it off, the car ran like a tri-power goat should. The moral of the story is these types of symptoms can typically be attributed to low tranny fluid so always check it first.

[Slade901]

I would replace the transmission oil and transmission filter. However, removing the transmission filter takes patience because removing it is very hard. You have to wiggle it while pulling the filter out but a lot of times, the filter will break into pieces and leaving the metallic round part of the filter that connects to the inlet hole. Taking it out is very hard becaus it is very tight. You might have to use a pliers to get it out. Putting the new filter is kinda hard because you have to push it hard up but on my case, I just use a deadblow hammer (rubber face) and I was able to put in the filter. Cleaned the transmission pan (dirty) and cleaned the magnet.

On your case, just remove the transmission fluid and put a new gasket if the gasket is broken or messed up. If that does not work then a new filter is in order and another new couple of quarts of transmission fluid.