GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

(I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, I'm new to GenVibe/ forums in general.)

I have an '03 base model that, seemingly regardless of the conditions, slams into gear(?). The only way I can describe it is that if you accelerate, you can feel the car get ready to shift, then it feels like it lurches. It throws the whole body back a little bit every time it happens. It's not only annoying, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was doing damage to the car. Has anyone ever had this problem, or know what the cause and fix are for it? Any input is greatly appreciated. I loved this car when it was running right, we (my wallet and I) would hate to have to get rid of it.

How many miles are on it? I know on my son's 06 it is recommended to replace the transmission fluid every 60,000 miles (which I need to do, he has about 64K miles). Has it ever been replaced? If not, then that might be your first step. Others may have had similar issues, so hopefully others may chime in.

Good luck!

It's just over 110k, I bought it at 92k. I was assured that all routine maintenance had been done before I bought the car. Wouldn't that be considered 'routine'? Obviously it was naive of me to just accept this as fact, but I don't know how to 'check' transmission fluid, so there was very little I could do about it. I've heard many horror stories about blown gaskets after changing one's own tranny fluid, are these true, or is it just as easy as an oil change?

It's routine, and it's as easy as an oil change in these cars. Just make sure you drain the right pan!

Thank you for your input! I'm going to try changing the tranny fluid Wednesday. Are there any tips or tricks for doing this? Also, I've heard both good and bad thoughts on getting a tranny flush, does anybody have any advice pertaining to this, or even an existing thread covering it?

Well, it seems that the general feeling is that flushing the fluid is a really bad idea at high mileage. I've also seen people recommend not changing it at all if it's really high. I personally don't know much about transmissions, so I can't really do any input myself, but there's a lot of concern that flushing a really dirty transmission will stir nasty stuff up and push the stuff into bad places.

Anyway, as for tips and tricks...
First of all, try to change the fluid when it's at least warm because it pours more easily and cleans out more gunk.

I'd recommend raising the car by either parking it on ramps or with a jack and jack stands (never get under a car that is only supported by a jack! Cinderblocks are also really unsafe). You'll want to set the parking brake and block the tires so it can't accidentally roll backwards. If it's on jack stands, shake the car a bit to make sure everything is steady.

When you're draining, just remove the plug on the transmission. Since it's an 03, the one you'll be looking for is the bolt on the flat and large pan. It's on the driver's side. The other pan where the bolt is up at a slant is to the engine.

Is it an automatic transmission?

Should I risk changing it, then? Yes, it's an automatic.

LeaveMyHatOn wrote:Should I risk changing it, then? Yes, it's an automatic.

I would. It's already obviously got an issue and if you do nothing it will almost certainly cause the transmission to fail sooner rather than later. The drain and fill is fairly cheap and easy to do yourself and if it fixes the problem, great! If not, take it to a professional.

Rayven01 wrote: I would. It's already obviously got an issue and if you do nothing it will almost certainly cause the transmission to fail sooner rather than later. The drain and fill is fairly cheap and easy to do yourself and if it fixes the problem, great! If not, take it to a professional.

You make an excellent point. I guess I'll go ahead and, fingers crossed, change it. I appreciate the input!

From what I've found, the pan holds about 3 quarts, while the whole transmission holds about 9 quarts. There is a thread on here where someone outlined how they drained the pan, filled it up, ran the car for like 3 minutes (the time it took for the auto trans to pump 3 quarts from the pan back into the transmission) drained and filled it again, and 3 minutes running later did it one more time. That replaced just about all of the fluid, but did not actually "flush" it where it would dislodge anything bad. I'm planning to do this on my son's car when he comes home this summer.

trb - Now that you mention it, I recall seeing something similar mentioned before, citing the same technique. Just to clarify, you would change the fluid like normal(unbolt pan, drain, clean, replace, reassemble) one time, then just run the fluid through twice more?

Yes, that would be the procedure. I don't know if I am going to remove the pan or not since it only has a bit over 64K miles. I was planning to just drain & refill, but I'll see how the fluid looks when I drain it. Filter kit is only like $17, so I might just do it. He's not having any issues, I just want to make sure his car lasts a good long time.

Which gears does it slam into? Mine only kinda does it between 1 and 2. All the others are gentle as a baby bunny rabbit. I actually suspect my issue is due to not changing the trans fluid often enough. I live in TX where it's hot and dusty, and it used to be a rental for about 40k miles in Austin. I didn't doe trans fluid until 60kish when I should have done it as soon as I got it at 40k. (every 30k in those conditions)

Now, if you want some REAL gear-slammin', drive my mom's Mercury Mariner. Every since gear shift in that automatic transmission is like riding with a teenager that doesn't know how to go easy on the brakes.