I have a 97 Cl 3.0. My car was jerking really hard when cranked after it had been sitting for more than a few hrs. I took it to a transmission shop that told me they would fix it for 700.00. The other shops wanted 1500.00. I took it to the cheap guy and he put a rebuild kit in it. He told me that 2 cluches were burned up and there was metal all in the trans. I brought the car home and the next morning the hard jerk and it would slip out of gear until the car warmed up then it was fine again. The car only jerked before until it warmed up. He told me to bring it back and he would put a whole new valve body in it. I took the car at 8 am on wed morning. He told me he was going to get started on it immediatly. I called sat morning and they hadnt even started. Wednesday of the following week he told me he didnt replace the valve body because it costed 200.00. He said he used scotch brite and sanded them down. He said that 2 valves where stuck so he sanded them to make them work. He said it was fixed and for me to pick my car up. I told him to keep it over night and drive it in the morning since thats when most problems happen with it. He told me if its not fixed he has 2 options give my money back or put me a used trans in for free. Me find one and buy it and take it to him. So id be paying him 700 just to install one that might be bad. He drove it thurs morning and told me its fixed. I brought it home and drove it this morning and it is worse than before we ever started. My hubby called and told him it was still messed up and he said for me take it to his garage so he can drive it in the morning to make sure im not lieing. The agreement we had was he was to give my money back if its not fixed. Hes acting like he dont wanna give it back. He gave me a 6 month warranty in writing. Anybody have any advice? I am thinking about driving till it lays down and selling it for scrap metal. I just bought a really nice body kit for it but I am not gonna pay to paint and put on the car that is having problems. Please help and thanks in advance for any answers.

 

Well if it slips until it is warm, the trans really needs a full rebuild. The bands / clutches are shot, so when the trans heats up they swell and expand. There are tight tolerances, so that little bit of expansion causes it to work. Do you have any odd whiney noise while you drive the car? It would sound like a supercharger and travels upwards with RPM.

Also, if he did clean the valve body and replace those two clutches, he had to drain all the fluid out. So naturally, any of the metal debris that was in there is gone and that was probably all that was keeping your trans from slipping like a mofo in the first place... my recommendation would be to get your money back and bring it someplace better to get a rebuild, or just get a whole rebuilt trans. If you plan to keep the car you can probably find a rebuilt one for 1500-2000.

 

There are no bands in the trans. It does not use planetary gears. She also states that the clutches were replaced. I bet it was the standard $150 rebuild kit, and it uses good Alto clutches.

There are a few possibilities here:

1. The servo body was overtorqued, or contains metallic or clutch debris, causing the shift valves to bind. When it heats up, it expands slightly, and functions properly.

2. The valves in the servo body are scored from passing metallic debris, causing the shift valves to bind. When it heats up, it expands slightly, and functions properly.

3. The main valve body still has issues, and should have been replaced. It could also be overtorqued as well.

 

mine did the same thing

 

I know if you don't clearance the clutches right it will do that

 

i had a rem unit put in my 01 cls and its making a turbo noise and the funny thing is is that when im in 5th gear around 35-40mph the rpm's go up and down slightly and it does the same thing on the highway....whats up with that? but i did find that if i stay in 4th around town in the 35-40 mph range it doesnt happen, so is it a 5th gear problem or a converter lock up problem or a valve for line pressure any comments would be helpful

 

On an older post in this thread, someone mentioned a whiney noise similar to a supercharger that gets higher pitched with increased rpms. I distinctly remember the drive-train of the 1999 CL 3.0 I recently purchased sounding whiny when I test drove it. Does anyone know what that noise indicates or if it is a normal drivetrain sound at all? I won't be driving the car for another month, but when I do I'll pay attention to it and see if changing the fluid affects the sound.

 

I had a similar problem a few years ago. I went to an online source, paid $500 for the trans w/shipping and had a friend put it in for $400. $900 dollars for a rebuilt trans, installed by someone you trust. "priceless". I've never had problems with it since.