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Hard shifting caused by fuel relay!?!?

Linebacker

New member
Hey,

OKAY, So i have been dealing with a hard shifting issue for months now, Pretty much a hard 1-2 shift and hard 2-3 shift, It would rev high to like 3000-4000 then drop into the next gear. It would go away if i restarted the car, here's the original thread for that if you want to get up to speed

http://www.grandprixforums.net/bogging-hesitation-hard-shifts-67871.html

So i took it to a transmission shop, They said said a worn valve in the valvebody caused pressure issues hence why it shifted weird, And this also caused premature wear on the clutch. So i paid $3500 for a full rebuild, After just 1 day of getting the car back, the issue was back, just like before. So i took it back, So they are still trying to "figure" it out, but one answer they had was that maybe a faulty fuel relay was to blame? now im no trained mechanic, but in my experience with faulty fuel relays, Symptoms were more like stalling, and having a hard time starting. Never heard of one causing shifting issues... Im worried they are going to chalk this up to a "fuel" issue and send me on my way. Any help from you guys would be great.
 


Depending on the kit they installed, the point of a shift kit of to create firm shifts. Firm shifts save the transmission, but if you are still getting slipping between shifts, that's bad. Especially with a shift kit. Are you still getting the slipping?

I can't see how the fuel pump would make for hard shifts.

Also, can I ask what you got for $3500? I just took my car in for the 4th gear wear problem. Worst case scenario of needing a full rebuild is $1450 for my shop.
 
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this is what the invoice says.

4T65E S/G kit $869.90
4T60E transmission filter $27.45
4T65E Torque Converter $295.33
Transmission Fluid $72.84
4T65E EPC Solenoid $72.33
4T65E Pressure Sleeve $17.67
4T60E 2-1 Coast band $20.67
Transmission Fluid $89.95
Repair cooler lines $95.20
Shop fees $25.00
Removal/install of transmission $612
Bench labor $720

Plus about $300 in tax, And another $350ish for a 3 year warranty
 
id take it back and tell them to fix it, regardless whats wrong it, you have a warranty, they have to honer it or get sued. you can get all your money back if you sue them. as they sold you a 3,000 tranny you did not need. or re built it poorly, one or the other.

remember they told you it needed to be rebuilt. and then took your money. its on them now 100%. where i come from thats called fraud. selling a 3,000 tranny and having the same problems as before they got it. if your gonna charge 3 grand it had better be fixed.
 


well they have it now, last contact was early this morning and they said they were unable to get it to shift poorly, sometimes it shifts fine... But while i had the car it would shift badly at least once a day. They have had it for 1 day already so they should be able to see what i was talking about. Hopefully they dont try to screw me, even if it did go to court im sure i would win but it would take forever.... On the up side they do seem to be very professional and as of right now i do believe they are trying to correct the issue, ill post back after i hear back from them hopefully later today.
 
Am I the only one who's thinking $3500 for a stock rebuilt trans is like more than double what it should be....
 


i dont know what the deal is here, i can buy things cheaper from summit and have it shipped here. then i can buy through the shop i work at. Shop charges me cost +10%
 
Am I the only one who's thinking $3500 for a stock rebuilt trans is like more than double what it should be....

That's what I was thinking. Locally, a full rebuild is $1450. You could get a modded HD tranny from ZZP with new axles for less. But I assumed it was cost of living differences. My shop only charges $300 for removal/install for example.
 
I just got my car back from the shop.
Shift kit
EPC Solenoid
New hardened 4th clutch hub
Used clutches
Filter
Fluid
Pump seal

$800 even before Tax.
 


*update

So they kept the car for awhile and said they could never get it to do the hard shifting i was talking about, Before the rebuild it would do it all the time, now its not as consistent, So i took it back home. After some fooling around ive developed a way to make the hard shifting occur, If i go from my place to the subway down the street (about 1km) it shifts fine on the way there, After i park it and go in for about 5 min it will shift like crap on the way back home, RPM will go to 4000-5000 before shifting into the next gear, this has happened 5 out of 5 times now. Im going to take it back and explain this test so they can do something similar where they are, If they come back with "shifted fine for us" i just might lose it.
 
you need to take them out for a ride and show them. they will fvck it up on their own. if your there, and a tech is there, there's no way they can say its fine.

i've had to do this a few times in the past.
 
Uuuhhh, has no one else noticed that they didn't quote a PCS solenoid? That's the most common one to cause harsh shifts, they replaced the epc but didn't touch the pcs when it's in the same general location.
 
update*

So i arranged to drop off my car and come back the next day so i could show them the rough shifting, (happens most often in the morning). It takes awhile for me to do these things because i am in the army and i am not usually near home. Anyways this morning i took it for a drive with them and of course it shifted great... I got it to shift badly twice out of the 25 min test drive, and i showed them a video i took of when its really bad. In the video the rpm and speedometer pretty much stay on par with each other until it about 50km/h when it drops into 2nd gear, and at that point the rpm is around 5000.

So between the two bad shifts and the video they agree that something is wrong, which is at least a step in the right direction, So they threw up a few ideas. One was a problem with the ignition switch they said they see in GM trucks alot, Roughly he said that when you start the car the signal to the transmission is delayed or never gets there and line pressure gets all messed up causing hard shifts. Did not make sense to me but im not a professional. His other idea was that a solenoid (did not say which one) was either not working or the circuitry to it was not working,

So as of now they still have my car, they had a scanner hooked up while i drove it and they could not get any codes, He pretty much said hes going to test drive it and try to see if codes pop up when it does the hard shifting, But he said without codes they wont know which direction to go as far as what to replace. So right now i am worried they are going to call me and say "Well we could not pull any codes so cant really help you". I still feel like the shop it trying to fix the problem and i see where they are coming from as far as not being able to replace random parts and hope for the best,

So hopefully i get some good news when they call, Not sure what i will say if they pull the whole "no codes" crap.

*this PCS solenoid, is this something that is commonly replaced in a full rebuild? its not on the quote, maybe its worth mentioning.
 
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