Always glad to help! So far my 2004 has about 438000 km on it and it's been about a year or so? since I did the job and it still runs good w/o those slips. I get a slight bit of a hard shift on the upshift between the last two gears but from start out and all other gears are smooth. For those thinking about doing this job, I just cannot stress how important it is to make sure you do the job cleanly and use quality parts. And if you are already in there doing a PCS, I just think you might as well change the shift solenoids in there as well.. but yeah - glad I could help! Ranger Rick

 

The reason the filter was changed was it would shift hard into 2nd gear
and sometimes rev up before going into 2nd gear. The filter change did

Since changing the mounts it now shifts ok, the clunk was gone for 600 miles but now it is back. Also when I check the fluid level it looks like it's low on fluid and I see air bubbles. No Leaks and the transmission tech checked it 3 weeks ago and put in a half quart. I just put in about 6 oz. of Lucas trans fix that I had, maybe that will help.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Venture Guy - like Navy Man said, it is possible that some dirt / something dislodged when you did the last tranny oil change. Those initial symptoms you spoke of (the hesitation and jump into 2nd gear) are exactly what was happening with my tranny. Mine started at around 220,000 km. I kept changing fluid and adding the Lucas Tranny oil CONDITIONER... ( Automatic Transmission Fluid Conditioner) not the tranny fix... and it would quiet things down for about 20-30,000 km each time. When I got to about 380,000 km though it really started acting up and I knew I had to do something... symptoms were all over the place (irregular shifting, hesitation, hard shifting, etc) that is when I did the solenoid changes. There are You-Tube videos showing how to do it. I did a dry-run on an old wreck in the wrecking yard to see what the challenges were - then did it on my own car. Glad I did. The PCS is a common problem because it has this little screen on it that can clog so easily. If you keep running it with the hard shifts, it is only a matter of time before the tranny is wrecked. And if you go in there to do this, I changed the two shift solenoids (315 a and b) , the PCS (322) and the TCC(334) - all from the GM dealer. I know it may be overkill but I was in there and it was a bugger getting in - so changing them wouldn't hurt. Anyways - hope this helps abit.

 

hey how you doing I'm trying to reach you to find out how can I take my shift solenoid off for my 2004 Chevy Impala

 

Hey Javeal - its a long repair and not one for the timid. Navyman did a write-up earlier which pretty much summarizes it well - it is this;

" I'm guessing you do have the 4T65E transmission. That seems to be a widely used transmission. The solenoids are located inside the side cover of the transmission on the driver's side. You have to take apart the wheel assembly and remove the C.V. axle because the C.V. axle runs right through the cover you need to remove. The sub frame is what the engine and transmission is mounted to. It is held on by four large bolts; two in front of the wheels, right behind the bumper, and two behind the wheels and in towards the centerline of the car a bit. The lower wheel lever is also mounted to this frame. I detached the upper motor mounts under the hood, and I would also recommend removing the intake tube between the air filter and the engine because the engine will need to lower quite a ways in order to get the cover off. Additionally, you will need 7 to 8 quarts of new oil because you will need to drain most of your oil. I would recommend jacking up the car and setting it on jack stands. Set the jack stands behind the subframe though. Loosen the bolts around the transmission oil pan and drain as much oil as will drain without actually taking the pan off. If your transmission oil has not been changed for a while, you may just want to drain it totally and and replace the oil and filter. Then, disassemble the wheel assembly. You will need a 34 MM socket to remove the nut in the center of the hub. You do not need to disassemble the strut assembly though. You just need to be able to swing the wheel bearing housing out far enough to get the C.V. axle out. When removing the two bolts holding the strut assembly to the wheel bearing housing, take a sharpie and trace around the bolt head of the upper bolt. This bolt adjusts your alignment and you want to be able to put it back where it was. After all of this, get a pry bar with a curl at one end and use it to pop the C.V. axle shaft out of the transmission. Be careful not to damage the seal, especially when you are reassembling it. Then, using two jacks, put one jack on the driver's side of the subframe and one jack on the passenger's side, unbolt the subframe, and lower it down. Watch carefully as you lower it that nothing gets pulled apart. Additionally, it can only lower so far because of a steering linkage behind the transmission connecting directly to the steering shaft that runs up to the steering wheel, unless you want to detach this as well. Using a third jack, position it under the engine oil pan on the side closest to the driver's side, so you can move it up and down independently of the sub frame. Put a wood block between the jack and the oil pan to avoid damaging the oil pan and jack it up enough to support the engine/trans so you can remove the engine/trans mount. Then remove the side cover bolts that are accessible. You will also need to unbolt the shifter cable bracket to access one of the cover bolts. Remove the engine/trans mount and jack up the engine/trans to access the cover bolts along the bottom.*Four of them are torx head bolts so you will need some torx drivers. Once the pan is unbolted, be careful not to damage the gasket. It is a metal gasket with a rubber seal so it is re-usable. Do not use silicone to put it back together either. This is not necessary. Pull the cover out as far as you can get it to give you the most room to work in. I was not able to pull it out all the way. One of the pictures in the following link gives a breakdown of the components under that cover. Reverse..no attempt to shift into 3rd and 4th gear..fluid level
The components in the picture you will be concerned with are 334, 322, 395, and if you want to, 315A and 315B (shift solenoids). All of them are held in with a little clip that is easily removed except component 395, which is held on by three little bolts. For the others, unplug the component, being careful not to break the holding clip on the plug, remove the retainer clip, and pop the solenoid out. Then pop the new solenoid in, replace the clip, and plug it in. Once this is done, just reassemble the car in reverse order.
Before beginning the project, I would recommend that you verify with the dealer that your parts are correct, especially if you get your parts off of ebay. This is a big project, and would be very frustrating to have to put it on hold while you wait for the right parts to come."

If you go on YouTube there are also videos showing guys doing it - search under 4T65E and shift solenoid. Thats where I learned.

But I would read a bunch of other entries to be sure that your's is havuing the same symptoms as mine did.... intermittent hesitation then jerking on shifting up from first gear, weird shifts, etc etc.

Hope this helps you abit.

Ranger Rick

 

Nice post

I have a 2007 Chevy Impala with the famous 4T65E with 140,000 miles and its shifting sluggish, you can floor the engine and car takes a while to get up and going. All gears work and I have been looking at the same Ebay solenoid kit. I have recently changed the fluid and it was very dark. What would cause the sluggish shifting? is this more than solenoids kit off Ebay?

thanks

 

Hello my name is Kevin. I saw your post and was wondering if you are still seeing this board? I have a 2005 Chevy Impala that is doing the same exact thing. I am not a mechanic although I can usually comprehend what I am told. Can you give me some quick instructions on where to start this procedure I cannot afford a thousand dollars for it to be replaced. I am going to try to tackle it myself. Any info from other members would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

My husband has been struggling with the "cotter pins" that hold the solenoid in place. He did not remove the tranny, just the cover and there isn't much room for his hands to get down in there so he has asked me if I could since my hands are way smaller. Well I have no idea what I'm doing and rather then frustrate him anymore I figured I would google first. Please help
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Hey Azmir -

What happens to these older transmissions is that the fine metal dust and shavings which come off gears / etc migrate to the pan at the bottom where there is a magnet. Over time the magnet gets smothered and doesn't pick up any more. inside the tranmission is a solenoid called the PCS (pressure control solenoid). It is responsible for sensing a pressure increase when revving the engine and shifting the transmission. It has a magnetic aspect to it and what happens is that the screen on the PCS gets clogged with the fine particles of metal and thus cannot sense pressures correctly. this will cause usually a `jump' in transmissions when starting from stop. That is beacuse it takes more pressure to get by the PCS clogged screen. Remedy? Well, to access the PCS and all the shift solenoids in that transmission (3T65E? 4T65E?) you have to drop and raise the tranmission and sub frame and take off the side ocver... or just drop the tranny and take off the cover and replace the PCS. But I would change out ALL the solenoids if you have it out and change up the PCS, TCC, and all the shift solenoids. That will likely range in the 300-500 dollar range just for those. And to drop and lift the tranny is likely going to cost 3-4 hrs labour as well. And that is ONLY if this is the cause... which is common in these tranmissions. Keep in mind though that model of Impala will be (at the youngest) 16 years old... so it could be a number of things by now. And if you do elect to do all this - no matter what they fix, when the tranny oil pan is reinstalled, put in like 5 transmission magnets and ensure you change the tranny fluid every 30000 miles. It has to be kept clean - or you'll be into this all over again. Hope this helps.