Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ATX tranny problems

Over the last couple of days my 95 GL with 109K has been shifting real hard. It's worse first thing in the morning when it's cold. No matter how I baby the throttle that first shift is just like BANG. The second shift is about half as bad. Then seems to get better as the car get warm. Any ideas? Thanks for any help......

mine did that before....check tranny fuid

If the fluids level is OK, try resetting the computer by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes. Mine did the exact thing you mentioned after I cleaned the engine. I think I got a connector soaked or something.

95 SE V6 does same thing. Hard when cold, good when warm. Took it to one of the best tranny shops around here. Duplicated problem but could not find cause. Unless it gets worse, he told me the cost of tearing into it to find the problem is not justified at this point. Hasn't got any worse.

My problem was the exact opposite of yours-great when cold, horrible when hot. Found out it was a worn out valve body (I hear they are low-grade aluminum)and shift solenoids. But the trans had been abused, so its getting replaced under warranty (I bought the car used). These transmissions seem to have a mind of their own.To stop mine from banging, all I had to do was shut the engine off and restart. Problem gone, for another 20 minutes. It got aggravating-good luck with yours.

I had a similar situation about two weeks ago. I have a '96 V6 with OBD II system. Anyhow, after checking the fluid and condition, I started checking electrical connections. It turned out to be a loose battery terminal connection. My positive terminal had worked itself a bit loose and this caused the PCM to get bad voltage, thereby loosing shift control over the transmission shifting sequence. The transmission was working in default mode. No check engine light, but occassionally I would get the overdrive light to blink but this would go away after a while, but the shifting remained rough. Not sure if this is your problem, but its worth a check; it's a cheap fix.

I know on at least three 2.0 ATX cars I've driven they've all shifted hard no matter what the temps. It could be a bad tranny mount as well.

Hope you find the problem.

John