My grandmother in-law has been experiencing a problem with her 92 Buick Lesabre with 50k miles. The car has had no major problems since it was new, recently she took it in to have the oil changed and the service manager at the local Buick dealer suggested that she should have the transmission fluid changed (along with the filter). She went ahead and had them change the filter/fluid, and has had a problem ever since.
She said the transmission will 'slip' when the car is cold, most noteable is the car will not go into drive after she backs it out of the garage. She describes the slip as no movement from the car at all as if it was in neutral, and she said it has done this about 4 times since the car was serviced a couple of weeks ago. After she goes into reverse, the car will go back into drive. The car has only been doing this when it is cold. When I drove it, it did not have these symptoms, but about 1 mile away from her home while turning at an intersection @ 20 mph, I felt it slip (like a clutch slip). Once I completed the turn, it did not slip anymore. I could not get the car to do it anymore after that incident. The car is not leaking any transmission fluid, and there is plenty of transmission fluid in it (and it's clean).
I don't pretend to know much about transmissions, but I'm questioning if the filter they replaced is the right one? I have changed transmission filters, and I did not think the job was that difficult, and the only components you dealt with was the filter, pan gasket, and the fluid. Are there different filters used on these transmissions that could do this? Is this transmission computer controlled? Could it be a vacuum leak? 50k miles seems premature for transmission problems to me, especially when the car has had an easy life.
If anybody has any input, I would greatly appreciate it. The problem is intermittent, and seems to be annoying her. I have told her to take it back and tell them that the car didn't do this before, and request they find the problem and fix it since they convinced her the transmission fluid needed to be changed as an maintenance item. Thanks for the help!
She said the transmission will 'slip' when the car is cold, most noteable is the car will not go into drive after she backs it out of the garage. She describes the slip as no movement from the car at all as if it was in neutral, and she said it has done this about 4 times since the car was serviced a couple of weeks ago. After she goes into reverse, the car will go back into drive. The car has only been doing this when it is cold. When I drove it, it did not have these symptoms, but about 1 mile away from her home while turning at an intersection @ 20 mph, I felt it slip (like a clutch slip). Once I completed the turn, it did not slip anymore. I could not get the car to do it anymore after that incident. The car is not leaking any transmission fluid, and there is plenty of transmission fluid in it (and it's clean).
I don't pretend to know much about transmissions, but I'm questioning if the filter they replaced is the right one? I have changed transmission filters, and I did not think the job was that difficult, and the only components you dealt with was the filter, pan gasket, and the fluid. Are there different filters used on these transmissions that could do this? Is this transmission computer controlled? Could it be a vacuum leak? 50k miles seems premature for transmission problems to me, especially when the car has had an easy life.
If anybody has any input, I would greatly appreciate it. The problem is intermittent, and seems to be annoying her. I have told her to take it back and tell them that the car didn't do this before, and request they find the problem and fix it since they convinced her the transmission fluid needed to be changed as an maintenance item. Thanks for the help!