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Hard shift issue

7point62

New member
So, my '01 GP GT has developed some shift issues.

At about 73k on the clock I have developed an intermittent hard shifting issue. I don't mean a big slamming lurch into gear. But, whereas shifts were normally very smooth and hardly even felt under light throttle, after driving about 20-40 clicks shifting will start to become hard, with a noticeable delay between one gear to the next and a noticeable jerk. It sometimes feels almost like it goes into neutral before it finally jerks into the next gear. Occurs in gears 1-4 and regardless of how much or how little throttle I'm giving it. Turning the car off for a while seems to "reset" it back to normal until I drive for some distance then it starts up again. It does shift at the correct rpm and I haven't noticed any slipping.

Fluid is "slightly brownish" according to my mechanic but doesn't smell burnt and is at proper level. I had him drive it for a while around the city until it started hard shifting and it came up with code for delayed shift and he said something about it compensating with max line pressure (Sorry, I forget the code number).

Basically, he says a fairly likely culprit is the pressure control solenoid, but he can't be certain. If I want he will replace it for about $500 (mostly labor) but he won't guarantee it. Alternatively he estimates I could just have the trans rebuilt for about $1600-1800 which will include a new PCS as well and be under warranty....

Any advice? At this point I'm leaning toward rebuild because if the PCS replacement doesn't solve it, I'll have just wasted like $400 in labor to drop the subframe twice and any other issue/parts will be fixed or replaced with rebuild anyway. Thanks.
 


If at all possible Id say have him drop the pan and see if you have metal shavings in it. If he does find metal shavings a rebuild is probly in ur future anyway.
 
Sounds like he found the code P1811. That's a common symptom for the PCS.
Harsh Shift, P1811

A lot of guys bandaid the PCS with a shift kit and bottle of Lucas no slip. If you have him drop the pan, put in a shift kit while there. You may be surprised at how well these fix the issue up.
 
I've looked at some kits; mild, medium and aggressive shift configurations ie Thrasher kit. What's recommended? I don't race this thing, it's mostly just a daily driver but better performance is good as long as it's not going to cause undue wear and tear on the trans.
 
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believe it or not, your trans will wear out more with the smooth shift over a hard shift with a shift kit. Unfortunately, most people don't want to buy a car with hard shifting, or quick shifting to be correct, so the smooth slow shift is there.

The more aggresive the shift kit, the better for the transmission.
 


Thanks guys. I don't mind a faster/harder shift, other than the fact it's a trouble sign right now. 99pgpgt, Bill is right, there apparently is only one TransGo. I'll definitely check for metal shavings before I do anything, if there is I'll probably go with a rebuild and maybe install a shift kit as well. I mean a rebuilt trans is more or less new, and warrantied. Is it still really worth the extra cash to put in a kit too? I'm not sure I'll want to spend the extra on top of what's already a pretty large chunk of change.
 


Well, I just had my trans rebuilt for a final cost of $1800 including Transgo kit. Apparently I was very close to losing 4th and reverse if the whole forward band didn't go altogether...

Anyway now with the Transgo installed it's much better and more responsive than it ever was stock.
 
I see my future as doing this soon. I do not like the way it changes gears.. and i'm getting some slip going into over drive.
 
im looking for a kit with a soft,mild and aggressive shift to get. ill probably go with thrashers or intenses

You want new springs.

Intense is transgo with more spacers.

For real performance you need a perf built trans with tighter tolerances .
 
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