Transmission Issues
Thread Starter
1st Gear
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: Crosby Texas
Transmission Issues
My wife has a 1998 base w/automatic transmission, it is a weekend driver that sits unused quite a bit. It is parked on an incline and she doesn't always pull the emergency brake all the way. She has been experiencing problems with getting it out of park, mostly at the first use after it has been sitting. We took it to the local dealer and they indicated that it was a shift solenoid. They told us the part is no longer available from Chevy.
Has anyone else experienced this issue and what was done to correct it?
Has anyone else experienced this issue and what was done to correct it?
Pro
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 714
Likes: 104
From: Springfield Ohio
It's almost certainly an issue with the parking pawl being in a bind. When the trans is shifted into park on a hill and the foot brake is released, the car rolls back a bit until it's stopped by the parking pawl inside the transmission. The pawl is then in a bind then and it can be difficult to shift out of park. If the parking brake is set before releasing the foot brake, the parking brake should prevent the car from rolling backward putting pressure the parking pawl. The simple fix is to always set the parking brake before taking your foot off of the brakes. Manual transmissions don't have a Park selector and they know to use the parking brake on hills.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 5,278
Likes: 539
From: Kelowna BC
Agree with tbrowne; sounds like standard parking pawl behavior to me. My auto ops on steep hills:
When parking car on hill; foot on brake, place in park, fully apply parking brake (sufficient to hold car if it were in neutral, the last 2 can be reversed order but foot brake should be fully holding weight of car), then release foot from brake, turn car off.
When departing; start car, apply foot brake, place gear selector in D or R as needed, release parking brake (again, latter 2 can be reversed as long as foot brake is holding car weight), ready to go.
When parking car on hill; foot on brake, place in park, fully apply parking brake (sufficient to hold car if it were in neutral, the last 2 can be reversed order but foot brake should be fully holding weight of car), then release foot from brake, turn car off.
When departing; start car, apply foot brake, place gear selector in D or R as needed, release parking brake (again, latter 2 can be reversed as long as foot brake is holding car weight), ready to go.
Pro
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 550
Likes: 53
From: Fort Myers Florida
If she looks at her DIC it will clearly pop up a message saying "Brake before shift." My driveway is on an incline and if I do not press my brakes before I shift into reverse I can hear the transmission "clunk."
When I press the brakes and then shift it does not make the noise and all is good.
When I press the brakes and then shift it does not make the noise and all is good.
