Hello. I've been reading the forums for a few weeks. I recently bought a 2001 sunfire sedan. 2200, 4 speed auto. It has 115k miles. Got it for $2600. anyway the guy that sold it to me was a little shady and i've found a few things wrong with it that he didn't mention since i've had it but nothing major yet that i can tell. So on to the transmission question. I noticed that my car just didn't feel like it was shifting right and sometimes wouldn't shift into overdrive. It shifted kind of hard also until the car is up to normal temp and it seems to shift fine. so i went to check my fluid and saw the the transmission pan had a large dent in the front and it appeared that it had been leaking. I put 1 quart in without checking the level thinking it had to be low and that was the cause of the issue. That didn't change anything so i decided to go ahead and actually check the level and when i took the bolt out to check it about 2-3 quarts of fluid came out. as i understand it, if its at the correct level it should only drip out? so it seemed it was already overfilled when i added the extra quart to it. anyway it poured all over my driveway and i put the bolt back in after it was done. I drove it around and now it still shifts hard when its cold and it wont shift into overdrive also until its up to normal operating temp and then it seems to shift fine. I got a filter kit and a new trans pan that i'm going to put on tomorrow, but i'm wondering what you all think of it not shifting into overdrive while its cold? is this normal or something i should worry about? and by the way i'm really liking this site. i've found a lot of info that has let me diagnose a few of my small problems and how to fix them.
Just to do an update. I changed the filter and put new fluid in with the new pan and it seems to be shifting better now. its smoother and is going into OD. The old filter appeared to be damaged from where the trans pan was dented. It had the filter pinched between the trans and the pan.
Its normal for the car to shift a bit harder (cold shifts) and not activate OD until the coolant temp is above 160 degrees.
www.gmscf.com
alright thanks. i thought maybe it may have been normal, but i wasn't sure.
Never heard of that. And both of my Cavaliers shift into 4th when cold.
Working on obtainting an M-Class license... ?? Hint: 2 wheels.
I would be curious to here other opinions on this matter also. My car will not shift into 4th when it is very cold also, until the car warms up. The car's tranny has 125k with new fluids done around 100K.
Toronto Cavalier wrote:Never heard of that. And both of my Cavaliers shift into 4th when cold.
4th gear is not overdrive.
www.gmscf.com
i notice my tranny not going in overdrive unless the needle hits 195 f in tempeture of about 50 f or below.
