03 hard shift 1-2 4l60

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Timc9516

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Ok so I bought the truck last year in March and I knew it had a slight hard shift on 1-2

Well I've finally gotten around to trying to improve the truck alittle. I cleaned the maf sensor with no change so I'm thinking about trying a new tps sensor considering it's cheap and I don't have to open the trans

Buy my question is what would you recommend next.

The truck has 163k on it and I don't have any record of the trans being serviced. Would you recommend replacing the 1-2 accumulator and doing filter and fluid replacement or doing the accumulator and not changing filter but changing fluid or leave it till it blows up and rebuild the trans?
 

Mudsport96

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No check engine light? How does it shift and drive in the other gears? Does it shift hard no matter how much throttle you give it or just at full throttle?
My Silverado has a hard 1-2 shift above approximately 60 percent throttle. It has a new transmission with less than 5000 miles on it. But it did it with the old transmission too. The tps maf all check out, so it's in the programming im guessing.
 

Rocket Man

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How hard of a shift is it? I’m thinking if it’s just firmer than normal, the 1-2 servo might have been replaced with the corvette servo which is a popular mod. Another thing I know from experience that can cause an extremely hard 1-2 shift is if the trans was serviced and RTV was used on the pan gasket, it can clog the servo passages which are right at the pan rail. If this happens, the servos don’t release properly and the super hard shift happens. If I was you, I would drop the pan and replace the filter and do a fluid swap regardless. It’s basic maintenance that needs to be done plus you can check for the issue I mentioned. I highly recommend a LubeLocker pan gasket. And no RTV lol.
 
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Timc9516

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No check engine lights except occasionally when I had to floor it to get up to high way speed (my town is stupid and messed up the on ramp during construction) it would blink. But it was always a random misfire code. I plan on doin plugs and wires soon.

As for driving and shifting in other gears. Its fantastic. You would never know it has 163k on it. 2-3 is alittle weird but I think it's just compensating for 1-2.

As for throttle input its kinda hard to answer my fiance says she thinks it me and that it doesn't do it to her but I've never been in the truck with her to confirm that. However I have noticed every so often it doesn't do it. For example one time I took off from a stop sign and it didn't shift hard but then when I took off from the next stop sign not even a 1/4 mile down the road it shifted hard.

As for how hard of a shift it is. It's definitely not normal. Everyone who has been in the truck has commented on it.

I'm bringing the truck into my work to do front brakes and a wheel bearing this Saturday. I will definitely crawl underneath to check if the pan has rtv around the edges.

So your saying even tho I don't know the history on the trans I should service it anyways? Sorry for being so cautious my last truck was a ram 1500 and I had a code for a solenoid around 140k I did the solenoid, filter, and fluid and it made it a week and then blew up
 

Rocket Man

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A fluid swap and filter change has never been an issue afaik. The problem usually arises from a flush on an old trans, that’s where the stuff gets stirred up and pushed throughout due to using a machine. Just replace whatever comes out when you drop the pan, usually 6-8 quarts. This is the advice I’ve always heard.
 

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