my buick wont go into gear until warmed up?

[lonnie5]

I have a 1995 buick with 85k on the 3.8 v6. My car takes about five min to go in gear after I start it up. What could be the problem?

 

[LARRY70GS]

I have a 1995 buick with 85k on the 3.8 v6. My car takes about five min to go in gear after I start it up. What could be the problem?

First thing to do is check the transmission fluid level. With the engine running, pull the dip stick, wipe it, and re insert it. Then pull it out and note the level. It should be below the full mark. As the fluid heats up, it expands, so hot, it should be at the full mark. If you check the fluid cold, it will be below the full mark. If you don't see a reading when cold. Try adding fluid until the level is about 1/4" below the add mark. When hot (about 15 miles of highway driving), it should be at the full mark.

 

[lonnie5]

fluid is good. thats the first thing I checked. but im clueless now

 

[LARRY70GS]

I'd drop the pan, check and change the filter, and fill it back up. There is a magnet on the inside of the pan. It will have some metallic paste on it. That is wear and is normal if not excessive. Clean the inside of the pan. If that doesn't do it, I'd take it to a transmission shop.

 

[02CustominFL]

Worst case could be your torque converter/pump going bad. I had an old Dodge Ram that, first thing in the morning, would have to sit in gear for about 30 seconds until it built up enough pressure to get going. After that it was pretty much good until it sat for another 6-8 hours.

 

[redmondjp]

Sounds like time for a transmission rebuild.

You most likely have a stiff rubber lip seal on one of your clutch pack pistons - the rubber is not as soft and pliable as it once was so doesn't initially seal to the outer bore until the transmission fluid warms up a bit and causes the rubber to soften.

In the mean time, add a bottle of that "stop leak/seal conditioner" to your transmission fluid (I only advise doing this in end-of-life-extension cases such as this one appears to be). It has some solvent in it which swells up the rubber seals and temporarily makes them work better. If you add this to the transmission and it "fixes" your problem, you know for sure that you have a bad seal. Start saving $ for a transmission rebuild then.

I had this same thing happen to me on a Ford C6 automatic. It took a few minutes for the seal to work in any forward gear. So I would back out of a parking spot, and then be stuck there for a few minutes (I quickly learned to stay in the parking spot until the fluid was warm and I had 'drive' before I backed out!).

 

[02CustominFL]

Just a tip too, shift from park to neutral for 20 seconds or so before trying to move, fluid doesn't really circulate in P compared to N. It should let you get going a little faster.

 

[HotZ28]

Better yet, put the transmission in reverse, or low (D-1) and wait for the gear to engage to increase internal pressure and minimize wait time. You apparently have a bad input hub/shaft seal, which will cause low internal pressure when the fluid is cold. This can be verified at a transmission shop, only when the engine/trans is cold. (Approximately 50-deg.) BTW, I drove one like this for 5-yrs & 80K with no other problems, using the tricks mentioned.

 

[believe33]

Are you hearing any whining or gnashing when it finally gets into gear? Mine was doing that (97 LeSabre, 127k at the time) and the tranny needed to be rebuilt. I paid about 2300 for a rebuild and 3 yr 50k mile warranty....

 

[G-751351]

Better yet, put the transmission in reverse, or low (D-1) and wait for the gear to engage to increase internal pressure and minimize wait time. You apparently have a bad input hub/shaft seal, which will cause low internal pressure when the fluid is cold. This can be verified at a transmission shop, only when the engine/trans is cold. (Approximately 50-deg.) BTW, I drove one like this for 5-yrs & 80K with no other problems, using the tricks mentioned.

I put over 80k on one doing this method. The car is still trucking.