I just had the 30K service done, and included in that was tranny flushing, new filter, etc.. I had the hard shift problem prior to that, but thought that it was becuase of my CAI. After the work was done the hard shifting went away.

??

Your CAI caused hard shifting?

Sorry, should have said I had the hard shift problem prior to that and thought it was becuase of my CAI.

<------Had the same problem. Took it to the dealer (extended warranty ) and they said it was the solenoid valve so they're doing a complete overhaul.....I get it back today so I am hoping that it fixes the problem. Probably going to come out to around $1500 so I'm lucky to have purchased the warranty.

Sorry if this is bad news for you, just wanted to give some info.

Cars also do hard shifting when they arent properly warmed up. My nephews car (98 gtp) was doing the same thing. He would have hard shifts- then he would turn off the car for 30 seconds and the hard shifting is gone. Solution ---have no idea. Just something you can do if its hard shifting. :?

I'm having this same issue on my 2000. According to my brother who runs and AAMCO dealeship, there is a valve that controls pressure to torque converter lockup. GM changed design a while back an this valve will wear and leak a bit when fluid heats up. When computer senses loss of lockup and/or drop in pressure, it tells hydraulic fluid pressure to go to max output to compensate. This is the reason for the hard shifting... hydraulic pressures are now much higher then reruiredl. Bet you feel the hard shifting most under light throttle/low load conditions (when normally you would need lower pressures when shifting). If you turn off engine, system will reset if it does not sense slippage, problem appears gone. Only fix is rework of valve, which is tough to get to. No guarantee this is the problem... but is apparently common.

That sounds sensor related. Mine is after 100 miles of strait driving. If I go 1/2 throttle from a stop, 1st gear will go up to where its supposed to shift to second. However, it will just hold 1st gear for a second slowing acceleration and then SLAM into second.

Could bad lower mounts cause this? Something could be rocking very hard during the shift.

I took my car to a dealer today to ask about the transmission shifting rough on my vehicle. I told him exactly what happens:

1. The car only shifts rough when transmission shifts between 2,200 and 2,800 RPM.
2. It does not shift rough all the time. If first gear engages rough, 2nd almost always does too. If 1st doesn't, then 2nd doesn't. At times you never feel it shift, others, it feels like it'* being thrown into a gear.
3. if accelerating at heavy throttle it shifts totally seamless. You don't feel anything at all. (feels normal)

First question he asked me was how hard the car is abused. ( I'm 19) O.k. that'* offensive since I am very easy on my cars. This car'* only seen WOT maybe 2 or 3 times in the almost 2 months I have had it. I ask him if my extended GMPP warranty would cover this type of work, even if it was just a diagnostic and they found nothing wrong and he said "GM warranties don't cover abuse." It'* not ABUSE that caused it! Then I was told after that if it'* not abused then the transmission is shifting normally... "they all do it"

Well, it looks as though this is yet another common problem with these cars. My transmission hard shifts into second and third intermittently when the transmission gets hot after driving in the city for awhile. This doesn't happen all of the time, but only occasionally. If I stop and let the car cool down for a few hours, it shifts correctly. Changing the transmission fluid & filter did nothing to help with this problem. I read in a tech bulletin that this is sometimes the cause of a faulty sensor in the transmission. I guess these cars need the solenoid and valve repaired.

So, does anybody know if this can be done with the transmission still in the car, or does it need to be pulled and put on a bench? If anybody knows of a how to instruction page, let me know.