Trans bucks

Lately when i put my truck in gear, particularly when its cold its bucks hard, same with reverse and same with changing gears from first to second, typically these symptoms are only when the truck is not fully warmed up, i figured this may be due to the idle up designed to warm the truck up.

However lately its happening a lot more and a lot worse, the trans fluid is at proper levels and there is no free play in the drive shaft.


I plan on doing a trans flush very soon so this doesn't damage anything but im pretty sure its not axle wrap, i tried to grease the joints and they are full.


Any other ideas before i lose it and do a manual swap right now?



Ryan

 

hmmm yah i have the same problem about it bucking and letting it warm up seems to do the trick. but open your door while your trucks on and switch it back and forth from reverse to drive. if you hear a clank, its your U-joints. i just had to change those. only reason i know lol!

 

How much did that set you back?

 

doesn't seem to make any noise in the u joints, anyone else?

 

sounds like you may need to drop the pan and clean the filter screen out with brake cleaner, then reinstall everything and put in new fluid.

edit....auto or manual??

 

His side bar says its a DC, which are all auto right?

 

yeah.....im pretty sure......but it was an oversight on my part.

 

auto, until the swap to 5sp

 

added some lucas trans additive and its muuuuch smoother now

 

The buck is back, added some more lucas, still is bad, changed the fluid this morning and it was not very clean. Still doin the buck.


so im not sure what to do now.

 

Idrivetoys,
I was getting a clunk when my auto shifted from first to second.(2002 2.4l auto) Maybe not the same as your problem. About 85k miles and I had never changed the fluid (my bad).

I miss read my owner' manual and was thinking that I had a sealed trans.

I joined this forum and after reading from the experts here realized my error.

Fluid was dirty brown instead of red.

I then did a simple drain and refill at about 2.5 quarts a time for four times to get the fluid red and the clunk went away. (Drove it a bit between changes.)

A real flush and filter change/clean probably would have been better as suggested above but the changes were easy.

 

I might try and drain and fill it a few more times and drop the pan and check the screen

 

Im giving it a few days of driving before i drain it again. Its worse when i hit Neutral for a second before going to Drive or Reverse, the revs go up to about 1500 when the engine isn't fully warm and the transition to a different gear is when it bucks.

 

alright, re drained the truck (dirty fluid as expected) i drove about 200 miles since the last one, dropped the pan, cleaned off the magnets, sprayed out the screen and put it back together and filled it up.

just waiting for morning when the engine is cold.


Ryan

 

Worked Great, shifts smooth and engages nicely! took some pics if anyone is interested.


Drain fluid (14mm)

unbolt dipstick (12mm)

remove trans pan bolts (10mm)--need extension for bellhousing side

remove pan

remove gasket/sealant

scrub pan out and clean magnets

use brake cleaner and pressure clean the screen really well

apply RTV to pan rim, barely snug bolts by hand, let rtv sit one hour then tighten down

fill with fluid the next morning





reinstall

 

sounds like you really took your time cleaning the pan! Lets see some pics.

How does it shift when cold? Later shift points until warm?

 

You need to stay on top of your fluid levels as well as how clean they are. Not changing them can lead to failure and empty pockets.

 

Shifts great at all temps now, engages D or R nice and smooth, extremely happy with the results

The fluid levels were exactly where they should be, and it wasn't bright red by any means it was definitely time for a change, i should have done it already but it got left behind amidst deployment. The screen was just dirty and im sure could have been prevented with more frequent changes.




The screen is the skinny rectangular section that looks like mesh



This was after of course, i guess i forgot to take one of before, i used a wire wheel to get the old sealant off as best i could, despite being faded red in some spots its super smooth and in no danger of cracking and falling in the pan. There was no shavings or chunks of anything and i wanted to limit it to as little contamination as possible thats why i cleaned the pan so well, plus it was off so why not?