Thread: Hard shifts..

I bought a 00 SE about a week ago. The guy said the trans will shift normal until it is warmed up. Then in every gear it shifts hard, real hard. I heard it could of been my shift solenoids but was just wondering what all could be causing this before I start throwing parts at it and/or condemn the tranny itself.

Changed fluid and filter is all I have done to it.
203k miles on it
was supposedly rebuilt at 100k but I got no paperwork saying so.

I wondered about that. So the shift kit will smooth out the shifts and essentially "fix" the problem. Thank you. I'll put one in next weekend and see how it works out.

Also on the semi-same note: I was also thinking of taking the motor and trans out of a 05 GXP and putting it my 00 SE because it has a ton less miles on it (88k, opposed to 203k) and it seems reasonably cheap. Would that swap work out?

on your first issue, replace the pressure control solenoid in the side cover when you do your shift kit, they have a looong history of going bad and causing the 1811 code. I have changed many of them for that condition.

On your second question, the 05 gxp trans IIRC will not be a direct swap with your 00, they changed the mode switch from external to internal around 03-4 so I am not sure what you would have to do wiring/programming wise to make it fit. I am also not sure that the GXP bellhousing would match up. That is a v8 car right? One of the forums, I think clubgp has a writeup on model interchanges. Do some searching.

Pressure solenoid, I read something about them when I was researching the car before I bought it. I do remember seeing something about them being bad, thanks for the reminder cause I completely forgot about it.

I'm not doing just the trans swap, i was thinking of taking the whole motor and computer with the trans to make it go a bit smoother since the bellhousing and wiring and such would be completely different. Yeah they are v8's and if im lucky it will be super charged. But i'm gonna have to locate the same year as mine to do that because of certain security features the newer models have, such as everything is controlled by the computer and even if I replaced my computer with the donor 05' computer it wouldn't work unless it was completely reprogrammed and I don't have that kind of knowledge, funds or time to send it off. So i'll go back to the list and locate a simple 350 with a 700r4. Maybe find that gem in the pile of coal where the 350 was already bored out to make it more powerful. Experience proved to me that you can drop a sbc into anything.

But for the moment, im going with the shift kit and pressure solenoid as suggested At least until I get my new set-up. Make a SE into a SS (even though pontiacs never had a SS model vehicle)