I hope someone can help here with a problem I've had for a couple weeks. My 2001 L200 (auto transmission) has 175,000 miles. It shifts smooth as silk until I've driven about 10 minutes and then it won't shift into high gear. Not sure but I think it doesn't shift out of first. At this point I pull of the road and any gear shifting to park or one of the gears is accompanied by a bang. It's a very hard shift. After I try and accelerate a few times, it eventually starts shifting smoothly again. I've checked the fluid level and it's not low nor does it smell burnt. Any suggestions on what I can do to troubleshoot? Any help appreciated.

 

You need to scan all modules for codes.

 

If it's the same tranni design as the SL1 series of Saturns, that sounds like Tranni Slam. That can be caused by a bad Line Pressure solenoid, at least in the SL1 model. This link is to the ad free blog article I wrote about it: Saturn SL1 tranni slam...

So, following the logic that your problem sounded like tranni slam, I googled and found that there are many sources of tranni solenoids for the L100. So I guess it uses the same design so perhaps the problem is similar?

Note that the article has a work around to tranni slam that allows driving the car while preparing to find a time and place to replace those solenoids. Good luck and please return and post what you found and the fix. Thanks!

 

Different trans different design.

Just different.

 

Huh, I thought that the original post said L100. Well, whatever, here is a selection of L200 tranni shift solenoids.

"How do I know which transmission solenoid is bad?
Delayed or unpredictable gear shifting.
If you experience a delay in shifting, or your vehicle has ever jumped to another gear on its own, there is a very good chance that one or more solenoids are failing."

 

Ok I will do that, thanks.

 

Different trans than TAAT in s cars

 

Please post the trouble codes. Do you get the wrench light when this happens? A key cycle will reset the wrench light and restore smooth shifting for awhile if the pressure control solenoid is bad. There is considerable difference between not shifting into fourth gear and not shifting out of first.

 

Thanks for posting. I’m not getting the wrench icon when I have the shifting issues so I’m assuming there are no codes to check. Is that correct??
Here’s a bit of an update. What I’ve noticed is that when the shifting problem occurs it’s not going into fourth gear. When it occurs I can drive up to about 4000 rpm and then it will shift into fourth gear. I can drive like that but the cars rpm’s are a bit elevated from normal. Eventually in stop and go traffic it will start shifting like normal again. Thanks for reading. Any thoughts?

 

You need to get the codes......TRANNY codes