2007 Equinox 3.4 transmisson issue

[gootchie]

I have a 2007 Equinox with a 3.4L V6 auto transmission, with about 162,000 miles on it. Lately the transmission has been acting up once the car warms up and has been driven for a bit. The shifts will get rough from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, and will occasionally miss with the engine revving up in between gears for a sec before it goes into gear. It'll also pause when shifting out of park into drive briefly before engaging with a clunk. The problems are at their worst when driving in stop and go traffic and the transmission having to downshift a lot, which sometimes it doesn't act like it wants to do or also does so with a thunk. At highway speeds it seems to do okay, or on cooler days, or starting out first thing in the morning nothing will seem amiss, but after being driven in town for a bit it acts up. Unfortunately it's a sealed transmission so I can't even check the fluid without having to remove a bunch of stuff to get to the well-hidden dipstick, and a transmission shop can't do any more than change the fluid without breaking open the whole tranny, which they said they would do a rebuild with so many miles on it, which will cost me a ton of money.



Is there any thing else I could do? Spend the money for a rebuild, or just get a used one for all the miles the car has on it? Or is there another, cheaper solution?

[Ruley73]

Originally Posted by gootchie

I have a 2007 Equinox with a 3.4L V6 auto transmission, with about 162,000 miles on it. Lately the transmission has been acting up once the car warms up and has been driven for a bit. The shifts will get rough from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, and will occasionally miss with the engine revving up in between gears for a sec before it goes into gear. It'll also pause when shifting out of park into drive briefly before engaging with a clunk. The problems are at their worst when driving in stop and go traffic and the transmission having to downshift a lot, which sometimes it doesn't act like it wants to do or also does so with a thunk. At highway speeds it seems to do okay, or on cooler days, or starting out first thing in the morning nothing will seem amiss, but after being driven in town for a bit it acts up. Unfortunately it's a sealed transmission so I can't even check the fluid without having to remove a bunch of stuff to get to the well-hidden dipstick, and a transmission shop can't do any more than change the fluid without breaking open the whole tranny, which they said they would do a rebuild with so many miles on it, which will cost me a ton of money.

Is there any thing else I could do? Spend the money for a rebuild, or just get a used one for all the miles the car has on it? Or is there another, cheaper solution?

The Aisin AF33 transmission is very reliable, so I suspect you have low fluid level and/or the fluid is worn and needs to be changed. It's not a sealed transmission. As you mentioned, it does have a dipstick which is held in with a 12mm bolt. It also has a drain plug. I would check the fluid level and change the fluid before doing anything else. Inspect the transmission cooler lines between the transmission and the radiator. They develop leaks quite often on the 2005-2009 models.

You will need around 4.25-4.5 qts of new fluid. Use Toyota T-IV fluid from a Toyota dealership. It's the same stuff as GM's T-IV fluid for this transmission, but with a different label and much cheaper.