I haven't been active for over a year since I managed to finally blow the engine in my 95 SL (in the end oil consumption got me...) but I have a question about my sister-in-law's 00 SL-1 Automatic. 138XXX miles.

For quite some time it has been shifting VERY VERY hard both while being driven and when moving from Park to Reverse or Neutral to Drive. We had a local tranny shop troubleshoot it and were told that it was something electrical (best case a solenoid, worst case the car's computer) that was instucting the tranny to almost always shift at max fluid pressure. (Fluid by the way is full and clear/clean.)

My question is this: is there a common cause for a malfunction like this that a shade tree such as myself might be able to replace for her without having the shop remove the transmission and start the diagnostic process? I am afraid she will ending paying dearly to fix this.

 

I wonder if he's familiar with the switch that modifies the transmission performance .......

 

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I wonder if he's familiar with the switch that modifies the transmission performance .......
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if you mean the performance vs Economy switch, in mine on the consul I'm not sure how many years that was available, my memory says very few. It was on the 1994 but I think it was a very unpopular feature and removed after a very short run.

 

This is a year 2000 Saturn which if my reference information is correct conforms to IM-240 smog testing and OBD-II software level Computer Control logic . I have used on board software diagnostics successfully in many cases and not so in others but with the benefit of some form of a set of instructions from a servicing document to both perform and diagnose problems. OBD-II is quite powerful if you have a scan tool and in today’s world owning one as a shade tree mechanic is cost effective as you can save almost as much money the first time you need it to cost justify buying one. I only own 1 OBD-II compatible car at the present, my 1994 Saturn is the second newest of those I own and it is not.
To solve this as a shade tree mechanic if it was mine I would purchase what ever service document I could find at Checkers or Autozone or O’Reilys auto parts I could find and I see OBD=II scan tools in the $100.00 ish range now. My service literature indicates a series of transmission related scanning codes that could be worked with if I was to try to solve this problem.
I can not guess what part I would throw at it from my own experience other than verifying that the transmission oil is fresh and the filter is good and my ’94 has a good filter but could use an oil change for the transmission. But it diagnoses o.k. at the moment, does not smell bad as it does when the fluid is bad and the coloring is still fairly good.
When people say that they don’t make cars like they used to, different opinions can be formed. Mine is;
Yup, reliability is better, requires less maintenance, power is up, fuel economy is better, and complexity is through the roof. I can still work on the because I can read, and can buy a service manual and have some test equipment. My cars from the 60’s and 70’s I can repair almost from memory and the seat of the pants. But they need it more often and done well.
The new stuff is a dang site harder and far more expensive to guess at and guess right. But they stay running better longer, some times right up to end of life which is way longer than the older stuff ever did.

 

My bad -- I read where he mentioned a "95 SL" .... and yes, they still had the performance/economy switch on the 95's

 

Actually I made a mistake; her car is a 2001. I don't suppose that would make a difference. But it has no perf/ecom switch.

Let me check into scanning the codes and I can check back. Thanks!

 

Advance Auto pulled the following code: P0301. Where can I find the meaning of the code? Thanks!

 

I do not have a readout for P0301. P03XX codes are engine knock sensor, cam position, crank position and ignition timing codes.
transmission codes are P07XX codes. Did you check to see if there was a Chiltons, Mitchels or equivelent servicing manual for the car. There may be some form of procedural dependant method of pulling certain operational codes out of the computor. Something more difficult than having the counter man just read what is there although that generally is better than nothing.

 

P0301 cyl 1 misfire i do believe

wouldn't expect it to affect shifting unless the car is bogging down badly while you're trying to shift and actually BADLY misfiring

 

An amendment to actually purchasing service literature, my 94 Saturn SC2 with about 100k on it sat for 3 or 4 years with little more than driving it to the corner to top off the gas tank or moving it in the driveway. When placed back into daily service shifted hard for awhile. The transmission has not been serviced, the transmission fluid has not changed color (to the sort of ooky brown color) and still smells like transmission fluid instead of burnt cork but the filter has been changed at least twice, once since putting it back into daily service. As the transmission in these things is mostly electronic controlled it makes sense that solenoids can get sticky and operate a bit touchy but now with about 4000 miles of more or less steady driving it has settled down to shifting smooth almost as nice as it did when new.
The dang thing still impresses me as being a nice car, I never did like the 3 door coupe, still don’t so never really found a later Saturn to replace it and although a recent test drive of a new Nissan Altima coupe with a 6 speed was a pleasurable experience, it was not $25,000 more pleasurable than hanging on to this for a while yet.