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My car shifts hard.(automatic) any advice?

N

natto fire

Diamond Member
hello again everyone. I don't know if you remember my last thread about a car I would be purchasing but it is HERE.
Anyways I went with the Volvo 740 GLE. In the other thread I mentioned about the transmission being all crazy. Well i changed the filter and fluid and it is still doing it but then I noticed the trans fluid was low. Apparently when I reinstalled the pan the seal was not seated correctly so it leaks. Tomorrow I will be taking off the pan and reseating it.

So my question is does anyone own this car? It is a 1987 Volvo 740 GLE with the ZF 22HP auto transmission. I was wondering if it normally shifted hard. I also wondered if having low fluid would make it shift hard. I am kind of worried because it is RWD and I don't want to hurt the differential.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
I've driven a few Volvos from a 1984 one to a 1999. They all seem to have a hard shift when going from 1-2. It's a little easier when going from 2-3 and 3-4. That's all I can tell you. If it's not too severe, like making some funny sounds or anything, I think it will be alright. Just for safe measure, you might want to take it to a shop and pay them the $ to check it.
 
I've always heard hard shifts are good...I guess there could be a point where it gets bad...how hard is it? Major jerky hard?
 
Hard firm shifts are actually good for trannys. What you don't want is some sluggish,late shifting trans or slipping.
 
Regardless of anything else, make sure that you're seal gets fixed correctly and that you've got enough tranny fluid in there. If you don't and you burn up your tranny, you're going to be paying big bucks to rebuild/replace it.

And if a shop tells you that it's going bad, go get 2nd & 3rd opinions (but don't tell any of them about each other- let them come to their own conclusions).
Good luck!
 
thanks everyone.

thisismatt it is pretty hard but it mostly is hard from 1-2.

stallion i was actually more worried about the other drivetrain components because I knew the tranny was in no serious danger.
 
Draining the pan does not wash out the fluid in the torque converter. A lot of grime and metal shavings will be hiding out here. To really wash it out, take it to a jiffy lube (or a real mechanic) and have the full transmission treatment. You will have completely cleaned out the tranny and it should definitely shift better. Any problems that remain are then machanical.
 
Interesting, Emulex. How is this? I heard something similar regarding Ford Crown Victoria Taxis.

About the Volvo, the autos do shift a bit hard, not like any of the domestics. As long as it's not so hard that it makes clunky noises, it sounds like it's OK. I'd change the fluid one more time (or have it flushed), and change it every 15-20K miles after that.
 
all the varnish and crap that builds up over the years.. It sticks to the torque converter etc..

You put some fresh new tranny fluid in, you know it has detergents, right? It will cause the varnish and crap to come off and float around, potentially clogging passages..


If you are going to flush the system, do it 2 or 3 times, to get all the junk out.

 
I agree with emulex, if its been like 100k since its been changed, just dont change it, you might stir bad stuff up! As far as hard shifting, as long as its not like violent, just pretend its a sports car 😉
 
I have now flushed it three times and replaced the filter. It still shifts hard but does not have the "slipping" feel.

Thanks to everyone who posted so far.
 
I don't know about volvo's but some makes have a "throttle pressure" linkage from the throttle to the tranny that produces more "pressure" (I.E. harder shifts)under hard acceleration which could be adjusted via this linkage
 
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