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Developing hard-shifts / Towing / Need Opinions

i think it was in 04 they started using the hardened 4th hub. if you loose over drive, you know you got a old one. it will start to slip out of OD real easy, then disappear.
 


Scottydoggs said:
i think it was in 04 they started using the hardened 4th hub. if you loose over drive, you know you got a old one. it will start to slip out of OD real easy, then disappear.
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For one lousy trip I think I'll just run it in third gear and have piece of mind. The last thing I need is to mess up the tranny. Better safe than sorry. Thanks Scotty.
 
How many miles on the trans? You can sometimes go pretty far with the weak stock 4th gear hub. I'm at 111k and when I first got my car, when going into 4th it used to engage, jump out for a sec, then engage again. It did that every time until I changed my trans fluid, and it never did it again. I'm not sure why. I always use 4th on the freeway, you pretty much have to going over 55 mph.

I stick it in 3rd on city driving because some speed limits are 45, and It will engage for 30 seconds, then I'll get stopped at a light, and it keeps happening, so no need to keep gooing into 4th every light every 3 minutes.
 
02NavyBlue said:
How many miles on the trans? You can sometimes go pretty far with the weak stock 4th gear hub. I'm at 111k and when I first got my car, when going into 4th it used to engage, jump out for a sec, then engage again. It did that every time until I changed my trans fluid, and it never did it again. I'm not sure why. I always use 4th on the freeway, you pretty much have to going over 55 mph.

I stick it in 3rd on city driving because some speed limits are 45, and It will engage for 30 seconds, then I'll get stopped at a light, and it keeps happening, so no need to keep gooing into 4th every light every 3 minutes.
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The original question is referring to TOWING, you are talking about having issues with an unloaded, non-towing situation. I cannot imagine having extra load on that weak 4th gear hub from towing would be good; I think 02GPinNY is on the right track staying out of 4th gear.

02GPinNY: have you found the information/guidance you need for the transmission cooler install?
 
Alright. When the trans does fail, make sure upgraded parts are installed and you can feel free to use 4th at that time. It's not like the 3.8 doesn't have plenty of low end torque.

Trans coolers are easy to install. There is a write up but it's not for a tube and fin style. So the fittings are different, but you could probably learn a few things from it. It's by no means a direct bolt in. With a tube and fin, usually lines must be cut, air dams must be trimmed, and mounting pins inserted through the radiator.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/how-transmission-cooler-install-grand-prix-gxp-80806.html
 


yeah same deal, the story is more then likely they used up left over parts. F the customers, sell them a part that has known failure. thanks GM.

being cars were built all over north america, each plants old stock would run out at different times, so im sure theres no date of when they started to use the new updated parts. we do know 03 was a mix of both hardened, and not. same goes for the lim, the o4 was a hit or miss, some got the metal lim, some didnt.
 
02NavyBlue said:
How many miles on the trans? You can sometimes go pretty far with the weak stock 4th gear hub. I'm at 111k and when I first got my car, when going into 4th it used to engage, jump out for a sec, then engage again. It did that every time until I changed my trans fluid, and it never did it again. I'm not sure why. I always use 4th on the freeway, you pretty much have to going over 55 mph.

I stick it in 3rd on city driving because some speed limits are 45, and It will engage for 30 seconds, then I'll get stopped at a light, and it keeps happening, so no need to keep gooing into 4th every light every 3 minutes.
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I have 140K on the car now and got it with 135K. Between taking the bike and the car, I haven't racked up that many miles and I always drive like a "Granny" or so says my 19 year old. I'm doing the "Pan Drop" tomorrow and changing the filter so I at least get some new fluid and filter in there for the trip. I'm literally driving 120 miles each way and once I get to where I'm going it will be "bike only" until I leave so I should be good. I'm not going to do that "full flush" thing as I'm not comfortable with that. I've heard all the stories about doing that on higher mileage cars and just don't want to chance it. Once I get back I'll do the Trans Cooler before winter comes around. The write-up looks pretty straight forward and should be easy enough to do on my own. I'm not too worried about the towing part since it's such a light trailer and with the bike and all will not exceed 700lbs total.
 
02GPinNY said:
I have 140K on the car now and got it with 135K. Between taking the bike and the car, I haven't racked up that many miles and I always drive like a "Granny" or so says my 19 year old. I'm doing the "Pan Drop" tomorrow and changing the filter so I at least get some new fluid and filter in there for the trip. I'm literally driving 120 miles each way and once I get to where I'm going it will be "bike only" until I leave so I should be good. I'm not going to do that "full flush" thing as I'm not comfortable with that. I've heard all the stories about doing that on higher mileage cars and just don't want to chance it. Once I get back I'll do the Trans Cooler before winter comes around. The write-up looks pretty straight forward and should be easy enough to do on my own. I'm not too worried about the towing part since it's such a light trailer and with the bike and all will not exceed 700lbs total.
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I drive pretty slow as well, my acceleration on 40 mph roads don't usually go above 2,500 RPM's but during early morning rush hour I have to at least go to 3k or I will piss people off pretty bad. So I'm not doing that. Even sometimes that's not enough though.

Dropping the pan changes about 8-9 quarts out of the 13 total so it's pretty effective. If the fluid is dark I'd keep it there and never "flush" it. And I'd never do a power flush on any trans that doesn't get it done every 50k. Now my old trans fluid looked just about the same as the new fluid, meaning it didn't get very dark, so I did a manual "flush" meaning I put the 8.5 quarts in, and ran it with the cooler return line off for about 7 seconds, sending the fluid that's trapped deeper inside the trans out. All it does is helps you exchange more fluid. There's no more pressure or power that could cause damage later. It just makes your end resulting trans fluid that higher of a percentage cleaner. So I changed about 10.5-11 out of the 13 quarts. 1.5k miles with that, a shift kit, and a trans cooler and it's shifting great.
 


02NavyBlue said:
I drive pretty slow as well, my acceleration on 40 mph roads don't usually go above 2,500 RPM's but during early morning rush hour I have to at least go to 3k or I will piss people off pretty bad. So I'm not doing that. Even sometimes that's not enough though.

Dropping the pan changes about 8-9 quarts out of the 13 total so it's pretty effective. If the fluid is dark I'd keep it there and never "flush" it. And I'd never do a power flush on any trans that doesn't get it done every 50k. Now my old trans fluid looked just about the same as the new fluid, meaning it didn't get very dark, so I did a manual "flush" meaning I put the 8.5 quarts in, and ran it with the cooler return line off for about 7 seconds, sending the fluid that's trapped deeper inside the trans out. All it does is helps you exchange more fluid. There's no more pressure or power that could cause damage later. It just makes your end resulting trans fluid that higher of a percentage cleaner. So I changed about 10.5-11 out of the 13 quarts. 1.5k miles with that, a shift kit, and a trans cooler and it's shifting great.
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Okay, so if the fluid is very dark I should just leave it be? I'll have to check it tomorrow morning. I haven't even checked it since I bought the car. At that time it was pretty clean. I've only put another 5,000 miles on it so I can't imagine it being any darker at this point. I'll give it a look to be sure in the morning though. Thanks for all the info. How do you like the Trans Go Kit???
 
I believe 02NavyBlue meant that dark fluid should not be FLUSHED. A pan drop/filter/fluid refill is OK as that seems to be the general recommendation on this forum as it does not replace all the fluid at once.
 
stocker said:
I believe 02NavyBlue meant that dark fluid should not be FLUSHED. A pan drop/filter/fluid refill is OK as that seems to be the general recommendation on this forum as it does not replace all the fluid at once.
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Thanks Stocker. In any case I checked this morning when I got to work and the fluid was pretty darn clean. It's getting done right now as I type so I should be good to go in a few. Hopefully I'll have no slipping issues afterwards. Fingers crossed!
 
02NavyBlue said:
If it looks pretty clean like new fluid, there's hardly a chance of problems after a simple pan drop.
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Your absolutely right! Just got home from work and she rides like a dream! No slipping, hard shifting, noises, nothing. I think I'm ready to hit the road next week. Thanks everyone for all the info on the subject. Immensely helpful people here on the site!
 


Well, got back from vacation and the GP performed flawlessly both there and back. I started out in 3rd gear for about 3/4's of the trip going, but when I crossed into PA, I decided to try and hit 4th to see what would happen. The car never downshifted by itself and it stayed running perfectly in 4th no problem. I attest that to the trailer being very light weight. Even in 3rd gear I was averaging 27.5mpg. Not too bad. Now that I'm back I'll install the cooler and get it done with.
 
Glad things went well and the GP performed. How was the riding? What kind of motorcycle were you towing?

When I was installing my cooler, about 75% of my time was spent planning out where the cooler would go and where I would splice in. I also quadruple checked that I was splicing the return line. The actual installation was quite easy. Good luck!
 
Thanks! I was towing my 97' YZF1000R. The riding out in PA was spectacular. Gonna order the cooler this week. Which brand did you use?

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1238356_4735921215045_1776304431_n_zpsb0e1cbec.jpg
 
thats a beast of a bike, on a cute trailer lol


whats the receiver on the back of the car look like? never seen on on a GP before.
 
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