98 intrigue trans problems

[lucas_wojo]

I have a slight shudded when I am driving aroung 60mph. It seems to shift through all the gears fine but when it hits 3rd to 4th it shudders the worst but will stop as the car gains speed. The car has 131K and I noticed the problem around 128K and I took it in and had the trans fluid flushed and changed. The problem didn't go away. I am more concerned now that winter is getting closer and the problem seems to be getting worse. I don't have a lot of money to throw a tranny in it, so I would like to catch the problem before that. The car has the 3800 series II engine and a 4spd auto trans. Can anyone tell me what to do? I see there has been a lot of topics about trans troubles but those all seem to be slipping problems and mine is just an annoying shudder. It mainly does it when I go up small hills of give it a little gas, but when I hammer it down to pass, everything works fine. I just went on a 800 mile roadtrip with it and as long as I kept it around 75-80 it was fine. Any Ideas? I know my way aroung a toolbox and work on tractors often so if it is something I can do to fix please tell. Thanks a bunch.

[maxwedge]

You really are not sure the trans is at fault here, a misfire under load, which will commonly occur when in lock up, will act the same as what you describe, I'd get a full scan and look for misfire counts and trans slippage errors particularly looking a t tcc slippage percentages. A full line trans function scanner in the hands of someone familiar with this condition is required for a proper diagnosis, it could be the TCC shudder issue, or not.

[lucas_wojo]

I will have to look into that. I was thinking about taking the car to a tranny specialist, Would that be a good idea? Would they be able to tell me what was wrong if it wasn't the trans? I don't want to pay a GM dealer $180 just to hook it up to thier diagnostic machine then cahrge me even more for the repair.


ALSO the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light came on the other day and comes and goes, sometimes with the shudder and sometimes not, but it goes out.

[harmankardon35]

misfire...almost 100% sure thats your problem. I had the EXACT same symptoms as you back in the summer. It would act fine then as yiu would start going up a bit of a hil it would shudder and hesitate, but it would go away when you stomped on the gas and pulled out of it. Plugs and wires is a good first step. At the very least spray the wires with wd-40 and see if it goes away to diagnose the problem.

[lucas_wojo]

I just had a tune up done on it, but used the old wires. I had all the filters, fluids and what not done. I will invest in new wires this week...

I think this might be relevant, Last month the car was warming up and it just died. It would not restart unless you gave it a little gas and kept a little preasure on the foot feed. As soon as you removed ur foot the car would die, no matter how fast u were going. I took the car it and they told me the computer glitched so they reset the factory settings and it ran great, but still had the shudder.

Also the heat just dosent seem to be as good as it should be. It takes forever to blow warm air. My truck is blowing HOTair after 4-5 min where the intrigue takes a half an hour. All the coolent is freash and there is no air in the system according to the release values. What could cause this? The car is falling apart, but I love to car.

[harmankardon35]

if the temp guage is reading OK (around half) and still no heat....i would think a clogged heater core.

[harmankardon35]

oh, and definatly get a code read done. It will tell you in plain english what caused the SES light to come on. mine was "misfire cylinder 2" and "small evap leak"

[lucas_wojo]

If I were to cahnge the heater core, how hard of a job would that be? I have done it in my chevy truck and in several s10 blazers. As for the SES I am going to change the wires this weekend.