I have a 01 Saturn SL2. It has an automatic transmission. My problem is here is the past couple of weeks sometimes my transmission is shifting hard throughout all the gears. I would say this happens 1 out 10 times I drive my car. But the weird thing is when I notice it starts shifting hard I pull over and turn off my car and re-start my car and everything goes back to normal the transmission shifts smooth as always. I have done all of the basic inspection you can do for a transmission. I pretty much do all the work on my saturn myself but this has me baffled.

 

Any Saturn stores left open in your aera?

 

Brantallen06 --

I know this is kinda simplistic, but are you sure you have the right amount of fluid in your transmission?

As for "open Saturn stores", check wherever your dealership was - the nearby GM lots may have absorbed the techs and tools into their dealerships (such is the case in Mobile, AL - where the Joe Bullard GM dealership now holds all the Saturn parts/tools/techs)

 

thanks I'll make some calls

 

Mine does the same thing.. well the shifting hard. I never thought to turn off the car and back on. But I do deliver so it gets turned on and off alot.

I was told I left it on a hill, even the smallest incline, without the E brake and binded up the gears. I don't think that's what I did, I put the e brake on every smallest incline or decline lol, if its not flat i use the e brake.

Have you found anything out yet?

I have checked my fluid and its fine too. Just curious to what you know. I have heard alot of bad about these transmissions.

 

This is similar to what I'm experiencing. I drive a 2001 SL-2. When the engine is cold the transmission shifts hard. It continues even after the engine is warmed up. I've noticed that if I shut the engine down, this resolves the problem. It's not a matter of shutting the engine down and restarting it right away, it has to be shut down for several minutes, then everything is normal. Any insights from the experts in the forum would be appreciated.

 

Valve body

 

Actually simplistic might be the best approach. The S cars are getting long in tooth now. I have owned mine since 1996 and it has about 110,000 on it now. The only time it shifted hard was after leaving it parked for an extensive period of time. Returning it to some what regular service and driving it normally it quite after a couple of months of use and runs fine.
Normal maintainence and a couple of filter changes.
If yours is a recent purchase then questions like
When was the last fluid/filter change if any?
Is the fluid up to the correct mark? Yuh, silly question.
Transmission fix it in a can generally is better at removing money from the wallet than fixing transmissions. But I have had some luck with LUCAS transmission additive and LUCAS power steering additive.
Not required at the moment on my Saturn but something wierd started to take place I would at least pop a sawbuck and try it.
Mores law does not apply here. If a little works, more is not the right way to go.
If you are not sure what the prior history is, it seems to me that it would pay to service the transmission and
BE SURE YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE CORRECT AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID FOR THE TRANSMISSION.
Time, technology and the fluids have changed. Read the labels and if the KID behind the counter sounds like he is clueless, trust your gut, he or she probably is and ask for a second opinion from whoever looks or acts smarter.