I have a 2002 SL that I have owned since 2005. It has 260,000 miles on it and has had the transmission changed at 95,000 miles. I have done the maintenance on it regularly, changing the oil and transmission fluid regularly. The car runs great still and I love driving it and I love the gas mileage it still gets. I am getting older and my eyes aren't what they used to be. I have found it hard to see the transmission fluid level on the stick so this last time I had the mechanic change out the trans fluid and filter for me because I have overfilled the tranny before not being able to see the fluid level. Since this last fluid change it has started shifting hard from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to OD. I have had to replace the solenoids on the tranny before when it wouldn't shift into reverse and am wondering if that may be the problem here again. I am wondering this time however if perhaps the mechanic didn't use the correct fluid. I had him change the oil as well and he put full synthetic which I have never used and he did not ask. I can also very clearly see the fluid level on the dip stick this time. Would the wrong fluid type cause the hard shift? I know I should just buy a new car but I truly love this car and have done all the mechanical repairs myself and found the majority of them relatively easy. I know any new car I buy will be at the mechanics because of the sheer complexity of everything and don't relish the fact of having to pay $75+ an hour for repairs, that and the fact that many repair shops like to take advantage of women especially older women. Please any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Please no tech posts in the new member area. Moved.

I doubt you are an older lady. An older lady would be crotchety about owning a Saturn S Sedan at that stage of life. You have the positive spirit and the love of your Satty, and that never grows old.

Unless you own one like we do, people just don't get it. Their loss.

Onto technical response.

Has this mechanic worked on your vehicle before?

Full synthetic is not a bad thing for a Saturn s car to run on. But it's not necessary nor required.

I would argue that if you've gotten to 260,000 miles on whatever oil you were using before, now is not the time to switch to synthetic. in your specific case the time is probably never because you've more than gotten your money's worth out of that engine. If it's not broken don't fix it.

The other issue is the cost difference when someone else is performing the service. The markup on fluids and parts is not insignificant and if I actually believe you are thoroughly my elder, that can't help with the monthly budget.

If the mechanic gave you a written estimate, watch for the price difference then politely correct him as to what you want. Not what you prefer, what you want.

Transmission
. It is usually stated on the invoice what transmission fluid was put in. You may wish to double-check, but I gather from the coherence of the rest of your post you already did.

​​​​​​It is entirely possible the mechanic used a newer generation tranny fluid that is backwards compatible with whatever the Saturn specification is. However, since the shifting issues began immediately after the fluid change, it may be that whatever he used meets the spec on paper but does not function properly in this transmission. Sometimes advances in technology bring with them additives designed for newer transmissions automotive cooling systems, etc that while on the surface the overall fluid meets this spec, the additional added stuff will cause problems because the system in question I was not built with it in mind.

​​​​​​So I'd politely ask him what product/ brand he put in so you can thoroughly document it for your service records.

I think finding out what the fluid is is Step 1. Then some internet research which will lead you to this forum and others like saturnfans.com and sixthsphere.com where finer points like this are encountered by many folks and somebody likely will have posted about it if it is an issue.

I would do this much sooner rather than later as it sounds like to me that you should return with the vehicle and have him test drive it. The point of getting the other information first is for you to be fully informed when you bring it back for a test drive as to what other issues people have encountered if they exist from using that particular type of fluid..

knowledge is power.
Knowledge wards off attempts to take advantage of people.

You don't have to be able to explain the internals of an engine, but if you can rattle off the difference in composition between the original Saturn spec'd tranny fluid and what he put in there, politely, a reference to the fact it is a known issue in the Saturn community, with posts printed out in hand to be used as a last resort only, then I believe you can justify asking for the Saturn spec fluid and a simple drain and refill.

But as I mentioned, if your car is not operating correctly, time is of the essence for him to accept there is a direct relationship between the work he did and how your car is functioning since that time.

PM me if you would like to discuss further, as I am known for writing novels much longer than this on the site. They annoy me so I know they annoy the other regulars. We are a good helpful bunch and do everything we can for those genuinely seeking advice.

Feel free to go back to the new member area and post a little about you and your car. Not required, but helps us get to know a bit more about you and your situation.

 

100% agreement with derf. If it was shifting fine before the "mechanic" did this last fluid and filter change, I'd be right back there asking what type fluid he used and demanding another change with what you were using successfully! If he refuses, I'd tell him he can talk to my attorney next.

 

The saturnfans.com URL mentioned above gave me hope they were back in business but alas attempting to open that link leads to the same error page I ran into years ago. Back than I searched and found that SaturnFans had ceased to be a working site. We all shifted over to SaturnForums which I thought at the time were the new owners of SaturnFans. Maybe it isn't, but whatever. I just verified that SaturnFans is no more, here.

 

Well, considering that this thread is going on 5 years old, you have to do the research.

 

I am notoriously ignorant regarding transmission functioning specifics, but would monitoring the line pressure as a function of time and during the shift provide any better understanding of what is physically happening in there?