Pressure Control Solenoid

[soonergary67]

Has anyone here ever replaced the PC solenoid in the tranny? Can it be replaced without removing the transmission?

By the way, I'm having the hard shifting problems encountered by many others on this board at 56k miles.

[umina]

Yah, i'd like to know this too. I read somewhere that you have to pull the drivers side tire and CV joint to get to the side cover on the transmission. Once you get there, the PCS is just beneath the side cover, simple to replace after you get all the big stuff out of the way. I think the solenoid is only like $50 and alot cheaper than rebuilding or replacing tranny. My haynes manual says all tranny related repairs should be done in a shop, so no help there:o(

[soonergary67]

Well I got brave and did it myself. It took me awhile and a lot of work but it's done.

Here is some of the things I ran into.

You do have to remove or disconnect most of the suspension components on the drivers side to gain access to the transmission.

Disconnect the intermediate shaft from the steering gear box (this was a lot harder than it sounds because it's really hard to reach.

Remove the half shaft on the drivers side.

Loosen the frame bolts underneath and lower the engine/tranny far enough to gain access to the tranny side cover.

The tranny side cover has to come all the way off because there is a small clip that holds the solenoid in place that you can't reach from the top. Only from the side with needle nose pliers.

The bottom four bolts on the tranny cover are torx. Be careful not to strip them. I stripped one of them and wound up having to cut the head off of it to remove the cover and find a new bolt.

There were several little pieces that had to be removed as well to gain access to certain parts.

If you're going to attempt this yourself, I'd recommend going to www.alldatadiy.com and registering. I think it costs about $21.00 for a year but it's well worth it. Go to diagrams/exploded view/transmission and scroll down until you see the Case assembly. Click there and it gives step by step (albeit simplified steps) instructions to removing the case.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

[jzimms]

If you're going to attempt this yourself, I'd recommend going to www.alldatadiy.com and registering. I think it costs about $21.00 for a year but it's well worth it. Go to diagrams/exploded view/transmission and scroll down until you see the Case assembly. Click there and it gives step by step (albeit simplified steps) instructions to removing the case.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.[/quote]


I replaced the pressure control solenoid and that did not fix the problem. It did not seem to help the problem. My wife just took it out and ran it and it did not do it for her. When i drove it yesterday it was shifting hard and the engine light stayed on my whole trip. What do i do?

[cdru]

Well what was the code for the engine light? That would probably shed some light on the problem.

[jzimms]

I am going tommorrow to have it checked out. I think that Advance Auto Parts does it. I sure hope that I am not going to have to fork out the bucks for a tranny job. I am getting all other things eliminated first. I will let you know. Thanks for the help.