95 Aurora Trans Mount (or Other Problem)

[RLT]

Hi All! I purchased a 95 Aurora last week with just under 100K miles. I bought the car from a small auto sales place (not a regular dealership). I know the history of the vehicle from a friend who knows the original owner -- no history of problems, only significant repair to speak of was having to replace the water pump. Anyway, the vehicle looks great and and ran fantastic until I brought it home . . . literally the next day with less than 30 miles driven after purchasing my "new" car something happened. When I put the car in reverse there is a loud bang and fairly violent shutter. This also occurs going from park to drive but the bang/shutter is much less pronounced. It's not idling too fast, there is no grinding sound, & the vehicle seems shifts okay when driving (there is a slight "kick" as gears change -- I don't think it did it before but really had not driven the car enough to know for sure & I may be a bit paranoid about it). I took the vehicle back to the sales place - they say it is a broken transmission mount & are going to replace it this week at no cost to me.
I'm skeptical that the problem is a trans mount but we'll see . . . just about the time this first "event" occurred I noticed the service engine soon light came (or already was) on. The mechanic did not have the right scan tool to read the Aurora's codes . . . said they would have it looked at this week. I fear it is transmission or other serious problems (?).
I did purchase a warrenty package at the time of sale. It covers the transmission but I haven't gone through all the fine print . . . I'm hoping this won't turn into an expensive nightmare. I trust the folks I'm dealing with, they would like to get it fixed themselves so we don't have to file a warrenty claim -- I guess that might cause the insurance company to raise eyebrows so to speak.
I came accross this forum so thought I'd join & ask for thoughts/ideas from an experienced group of Aurora owners. By the way, other than this problem, it's a great car!
Thanks,
Rob

[xjoeharperx]

The Jerking motion sounds like a bad mount..Its probbly not related to the check engine light..the light wea probably alreasy on and the dealer pulled the battery cable to make the light go off...you just happend to finish the drive cycle and make it kick back on..

[gates455cutlass]

Rob, Exact thing happened to my wifes aurora when I bought it. It happened on the test drive and the seller said it was a bad mount. Well it kind of worked to my advantage I thought when I got him to cut $1200 off the price (cash money talks!). Turned out that I took it to the dealer and said replace the mounts. They did, but it was still doing it. I was furious. They ended up pulling the tranny and tore it apart. Funny thing about the 95's, there were some defective trannys that were developing small hairline cracks along the spine shaft bodies. Well the dealer found it and eneded up getting me a GM reman tranny for, you guessed right, $1200. THe tranny is smooth and performs but my guess is you need to have the tranny mounts checked and if they are fine....guess what. Good luck!

[jjdewd]

I thought I'd read somewhere that a bad sensor can cause abrupt shifts at idle, into reverse and drive
Just something to think about

[jessb45]

I have access to the GM service buletins and there is an article about this problem. It says that it is the trans mount. They have the new part number listed. They had a defective mount on 95-96 auroras and they redesigned it for the 97+ auroras. It is the rear mount that is twisting/breaking. From what the article says, this causes some pretty serious and noticeable problems. From this I think they probably made the right call but all you can do is wait and see.

[Indy8]

Another satisfied Aurora owner!

[RLT]

Thanks for the replies . . . very good info to think about.
Well, first week replaced one Trans (engine) mount - problem continued. This week replaced two more engine mounts & changed fluid/filter - slightly better but still no joy. Now my dealer/mechanic is thinking it may be a bad sensor & is taking it somewhere to get a second opinion. Perhaps I'm headed in the direction gates455 experieced. We'll see . . . I'm remaining optimistic but not another satisfied Aurora owner yet :-).

[jjdewd]

Like I said above ...I bet its a sensor!

[97 silverbullet]

well when I looked into my aurora I made sure I bought the one that had no recalls, i did my research. so I bought the 97 I've had no probs till now, after 70k of driving it, my tranny is slipping the shift solenoids are going bad, first my drive went now my third gear is going. I went to a tranny place and they said 400, I asked how they would do it and they told me but I dont know if I want to do it myself but I dont want to spend so much money.