What is this saturn tranny problem?

[ColumbusDrift]

Hey guys, i was driving my girlfriend's 98 saturn sc2 on saturday and i had all these problems when putting the car into reverse from park. It would hesitate and then jump kinda violently into reverse. Her tranny is an automatic and i'm not too familiar with auto trannys. I checked the tranny fluid and it smelled a litlle burnt not too syrupy smelling like i'm used to, but wasn't low. Now it was a really hot day so i was wondering if the fluid just got real hot and kind of broke down. My question to anyone is do i just change the fluid and filter? Replace the tranny? Ignore it because it only has problems on hot days? Is the tranny on its way out? Thanks a lot for any input.

[Rotarded1647545491]

The slamming into reverse is an actuator in the valve body. It is sticking. When the pressure gets high enough to move the actuator, it slams the trans into reverse.

 

Changing the fluid is a good idea, but will not cure the problem. If it won't go into reverse without giving it some gas. You will need to go with option 1.

 

You have 2 choices.

 

1. Replace the upper valve body (or the entire valve body). This is minimum, a $400 repair from Saturn. Or, If you are mechanically inclined and brave you can remove the intake, battery and tray. Unplug the Bus connector on top of the trans. Take the trans pan off. Then remove ONLY the screws that hold the valve body in ( this is the tricky part ), and swap out one from UWRENCHIT.

 

2. Live with it. My 91 SL! (beater) has been doing this since I bought it over a year ago. As long as you don't jump in and give it gas while the pressure builds, it won't slam that hard at all and won't damage anything.

 

If you didn't know, I was a Service Director with Saturn for 8 years.

[ColumbusDrift]

Rotarded-

man, thank you so much for the awesome post. i think that i will swap it out possibly once i can get a garage to work in when i start working at dana corp in the summer again. people like you are why this forum is so awesome with experts in almost any field in the area of cars. once again, thank you for your expertise.