2004 venture - hard shifting

[bleepster]

I am not sure of what transmission is in my '04 venture. Once tranny is hot, at times it will shift hard in all gears. if i let it cool, problem goes away.

done about an hour of searching and many suggest to replace the EPC and the PCS Solenoids.

I plan on doing this over the weekend along with a fluid and filter change.

Is this a fairly simple fix for your typical part time backyard mechaninc?

do you think I am headed in the right direction?

107k on tranny. Fluid still looks good as well.

[roadrunner2]

The 2000 Silo I used to have had the beginnings of the 'harsh shift'.

Fortunately, a change of fluid and filter corrected it.

You can't always be lucky though as a friend of mine found out.

His Montana (all same except for the trim) needed a new (PCS) pressure control solenoid.

Tranny fluid should be replaced every 3k miles.

[bleepster]

is the solenoid accessable by removing the pan? os is there much more to it?
if i am dropping the pan, might as well replace the solenoid.

also, cant the solenoid be "cleaned" some how?

[bleepster]

no has any advice????

[roadrunner2]

Originally Posted by bleepster

is the solenoid accessable by removing the pan? os is there much more to it?
if i am dropping the pan, might as well replace the solenoid.

also, cant the solenoid be "cleaned" some how?

Haven't been around for a couple of days.

I found out about this pressure solenoid on a different website a long time ago.

A poster posted what he had found and I printed it out, UNfortunately I have misplaced it or threw it out when I was housekeeping.

I can't remember the location in the tranny.

The print out I had showed severe wear on the solenoid making it a replaceable item and not a cleaning job.

I've been doing some web crawling trying to find an answer for you but haven't been able to. Sorry.

I'm not sure if there is a dedicated regular tranny tech on this site.

On another forum there is so I will enquire there ok?

[merc81]

Hopefully this will be of some help to you. I have replaced the valves in my van. These are NOT accessible from below, only from the side with the axle removed. You need to open the side of the tranny to get to the area where all the valves are located. Not trival, but not impossible either.
This means you need to LOWER the engine frame away from the body. To do this, a number of steps must be followed, all of which I and others have detailed in these forums in past posts. If you do a search, you will find much information and advice on how to get in there and replace those two valves.
If, after reading through the older posts on this topic, you still have questions, I'll be glad to try to answer them for you. Bottom line is this job is not easy, but with the right preliminary study and work, its a weekend adventure that can add life to your tranny.

[bleepster]

thanks. the other posts referred to years 2000 and lower. i guess i wasnt sure if things were different on a 2004.

i plan on doing the fluid and filter change this weekend. i will see if that helps or remedies the problem.

if not - i will plan a weekend to replace the solenoids

[merc81]

They are all the same. I had pretty good luck by adding a tranny cooler out front on the radiator. It made it work much better as my wife didn't drive all that long at a time and the cooler held off the time before the hard shifting started.
I did end up changing the solonoids a couple years ago, but that only lasted for a few months, then back to the hard shifting setting code p0741 again. If I can figure out how to flush the tranny fluid completely I'm going to try some of that seafoam stuff folks have mentioned on these forums, but I'm not gonna do that with no way to flush it all back out.
The harsh sift issue doesn't seem to cause other problems--I've had to put up with this on and off for the last 80k miles or so.

[bleepster]

thanks for the reply and your experience.
I will keep you all posted as to the results of my ad"venture"

[roadrunner2]

Thanks Merc81,

Your post rang a couple of bells for me.

[lesterl]

Poor mans tranny flush: Pull the return line off the trans for the cooler, while you run trans, pour new into top of dipstick funnel, make shure you dont fill too much/ too little must keep a good eye on it, maybe a friend could help/ shut down when needed.

Found this idea on a Chrysler forum.... Try at your own risk, I have NOT tried this.

[roadrunner2]

Originally Posted by bleepster

thanks for the reply and your experience.
I will keep you all posted as to the results of my ad"venture"

Bleepster,

I asked on the other forum and now have an answer of the PCS.

I'm not too swift at cut&paste so I'll give you the forum you need.
'car talk.com'

When you get there go to the 'repair and maintenance' forum and look for the post headed 'Transman, need expert advice'.

I mistakenly typed in 1999(?) instead of 2004, but I'm sure GM put the same tranny in during 1996 thru 2003 and likely to the end.

Transman posted 2 pix of the PCS you're looking for.

[lesterl]

There have been many revisions to the 4T transmission series as well as the 4L. Most upgrades have been internal, but some could have been to the solenoids, might try seeing if there is the same p# to the 2004 as the 1997?

I am good at cut and paste:

http://action.publicbroadcasting.net...t/2135384.page

I am not shure all the Ventures got the 4T65e, I think some may have had 4T60e's, but does someone know for shure?