sudden hard shifting
 

I have a 2001 SL2 with 195,000 miles. 2 days ago I had to parallel park into a tight spot. I wasn't in a hurry, so I took it easy, but I did have to go back and forth about 4 or 5 times. It was a cold night, but I was gone less than an hour, so the car was still warm when I left. It "thunked" into reverse. When I drove away, it shifted hard into every gear. After 30 miles on the freeway, it was still shifting hard into every gear. I had to drive it yesterday and, warm or cold, it's still shifting hard into every gear. Fluid level is fine. We had the codes read and this is what came back:
P0446 EVAP purge/vent solenoid cicuit condition
P0410 secondary air injection system fault
P0404 EGR system fault
P0401 EGR system fault
There were no codes re. the pcs solenoid. Does it trigger a code when it goes? Could any of the other codes be causing my shifting problems? How could I screw up my trans by parallel parking? This is our only car, we don't have a lot of money to make repairs that don't fix the problem, and we a have a driveway (in Michigan) in which to work. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I can't spend more than this car is worth to fix it, and I can't buy another car that's in any better condition.

This is what i would do. Sence the weather has turned cold, and has been killing a lot of batteries I would get you battery checked. For some strange reason if you don't have a good charge on the battery it will make the car do crazy stuff. Next I would check the battery termanals and make sure they are clean and makeing good contact, and make sure the charging system is working properly. I say this because my 98 sc2 would feel like it was trying to rip the trans out when i was looking to buy it. I had the same problem with my 98. It turns out the battery had a low charge, so I charged it up and now it shifts fine. On my 98 it turned out the alternater was bad, and drained the battery, and started the hard shift problem. So if this turns out to be your problem it won't cost that much to fix.

It probably would not be a bad idea to change the automatic transmission fluid if it has not been done in a while. that is a doable driveway job. Along with that change the filter. Lucas makes a transmission additive which would not hurt either. This would be most important if the fluid is dark in color and has something approaching a wierd burnt cork odor if you sniff the dip stick. Carefull it is addictive to do that!
The filter is a spin on external deal like an oil filter.