hey all my neighbor has a 94 buick (i know its not a honda) but he wants to know whats wrong with his car i dont know alot on auto's he says when he puts the car in gear he has to rev engine for car to go into gear. he's changed the filter and fluid and fluid level is correct.
any 1 have any suggestions??

he puts car into any gear and it takes a few min. for car to actually go into gear and drive but while driving it shifts fine and drives great.

 

well he definatly needs to get the car to a tranny shop.... autos are REALY INVOLVED... keep it to the pros.... but im sures not gonna be good..... he might want to look into a junk yard tranny to swap....

 

he says the car has been like this for almost 2 yrs. it drives great just takes a few min. for trans to engage. but once it does it drives great.

 

when u put it into drive or reverse its like its delayed a few then kicks in then goes and drives great.

 

For Civics, some auto transmission faults are indicated by blinking of the D4 light. Does the 94 Buick have a similar indicator?

For 96-98 Civics, the slow engagement of 1st gear appears to be referred to as "late shift." It can be caused by a defective 1st clutch or foreign material in 1st orifice. The related problem for reverse gear can be caused by a stuck servo valve or 1-2 shift valve or a defective 4th clutch or 1st accumulator.

I hope this makes sense to you because I am lost! Seems like time to take the vehicle to a specialist.

 

Not knowing that one specifically, but a lot of automatics have solenoid valves on the outside that control the shifting. If the valves get sticky they can do that sort of thing. Malfunction will usually set a code in the car's computer. These valves can be replaced without taking the whole transmission apart.

Another thing is that automatics are operated by pressure from an oil pump, the pump can get dodgy and cause the transmission to not go into gear. It can usually be replaced seperately without a major overhaul of the transmission.

If you look at GM/Buick forums there may be some cluse about whether this is a common problem with that model, and what the fix is.

DO NOT go to a major transmission shop because they ALWAYS will insist on taking the whole transmission apart and rebuild it, which is not necessary in your friend's case.

Edit: Also I forgot the really obvious one, if it has a mechanical cable/linkage from the shift lever to the tranny, it may need adjusting. For example he puts the lever at "D", but the lever on the transmission is still in "N", so the car doesn't go anywhere until he revs it up, etc. and shakes things around enough to get the tranny into "D". This is easy to test: if he were to move the lever to one of the low gears beyond "D", it should go into gear immediately if that is the problem.

 

i thought about the solenoid but i didnt see 1 on his trans. his car has a cable shifter that goes into some type of electronic box on the trans. ill try the lower gear and see

 

Are there any wires going back to the tranny? The solenoid will be hooked up to the trans computer so you need some wires for that. Like on my civic the solenoid (there are 3 I beleive) are right next to the tranny and pretty easy to see. They might be a bit hidden on your friend's car. What model/trim/engine buick? I can look it up when I get home if I remember.

 

Certainly not sure about your year or model... but lots of GM (others as well) have a vacuum line that runs to a valve on the tranny. Some call it a vacuum modulator valve. Clogged, unhooked,loose or cracked vacuum line can cause some issues similar to what you are describing from what I remember. Maybe that's it? Good luck.