2002 Buick Century Transmission Shifts Hard Sometimes

Reader Question My 2002 Buick Century has 95,000 miles on it. Normally, the transmission shifts very smoothly.

On drives of more than 100 miles it occasionally shifts roughly in all gears. You can feel the “clunk” when it shifts under these conditions.

I recently had the transmission completely serviced but it didn’t seem to make much difference.

Howdy and Hey there,

I am not a transmission mechanic, but it sounds as though you have an internal wear issue. There might be a problem with the hydraulic front pump, and lack of transmission fluid pressure.

If you just had a transmission fluid flush, and kept the original filter….you MIGHT want to replace the internal transmission filter and see if that helps.

You have some fairly high mileage, so if you have not replaced the transmission filter before….you do take some chance of making things WORSE by changing the filter.

The grit and dirt that is trapped in the filter acts like sandpaper adhesive against the internal clutches, removing the grit and dirt and the clutches begin to slip against each other thus premature transmission wear.

I would have a transmission shop drive the vehicle with you prior to replacing the filter and get their opinion FIRST.

Blessings,

Austin Davis