transmission's weak link

[evillecutter]

our transmissions are crap. period.

im fairly certain it was never designed/intended to go into an all wheel drive vehicle

like all vehicles the way it has been treated for the past 13 years is going to play a pivotal role in what shape the trans is in currently, but from the get go i believe these were a poor choice by gm/isuzu

i dont really have a problem currently but when i go into 4th gear it sounds like it shifts twice (you can count 5 shifts from a stop to 60mph but i know there is only 4 gears)

downshifting is my problem - i get a clunk sometimes going from second to first - sounds like a disengaging of the awd maybe? no idea for sure but it is def annoying - it happens about a second or 2 before the tod lights go off...

mine has 117k miles and im scared to change the filter and fluid because of all the horror stories - even 2 different shops i talked to said if i dont know the history and it hasnt been changed regularly to just drop a quart out and put some lucas trans stuff in it

also, when my vx is cold it will not upshift from first to second until i reach 30mph - when its warm and ive been driving for a while it shifts at 20mph - just thought that was odd

[SAM52764]

i dont really have a problem currently but when i go into 4th gear it sounds like it shifts twice (you can count 5 shifts from a stop to 60mph but i know there is only 4 gears)

downshifting is my problem - i get a clunk sometimes going from second to first - sounds like a disengaging of the awd maybe? no idea for sure but it is def annoying - it happens about a second or 2 before the tod lights go off...

also, when my vx is cold it will not upshift from first to second until i reach 30mph - when its warm and ive been driving for a while it shifts at 20mph - just thought that was odd

I panic just a little (ok a lot) when it's about to go into 4th gear and the RPM dial jumps and flies with a thump and then it's fine. I have found that if I baby the gas pedal before it gets to that point then it shifts smooth.

I've wondered about that clunk as well when I'm coming to a stop, sometimes it feels like someone has bumped me from behind and sometimes it's harder than other times.

Especially with the cold we've had in the Northeast this past week, I try to go out and start it and let it run for about 5 minutes first, but for the first few stop and gos, it does seem to hang in 1st for longer than normal and then it's fine.

I will say that since I have been putting in plus gas, the trans does shift quite a bit smoother than it did with regular gas. Next time I think I'm going to try premium.