Hello,
Another question about my Cobalt. I have recently been getting the infamous P1811 Maximum adaptive and long term shift transmission code about once a week and it seems to be a common issue with the 4T45E transmission my car has. Currently has 215k miles on it, fluid has always been changed on time. The cost to go in and replace a solenoid is anywhere from 300-900 depending on the shop and how long they want to diagnose it before they commit to anything and of course it has lots of miles and is probably worn quite well internally so that's not worth it without a complete rebuild.
I have a guy who doesn't work on transmissions inside but has no problem replacing one, he quoted me $600 + cost of fluid. The used transmission prices in junkyards around here are around $99-150 for one with about 65-70k miles on it. Altogether probably looking at $900 to replace it so I figure that's what I will do,
but in the mean time how bad is it for me to continue driving around with this transmission? With the code comes up it will shift hard through every gear, but still does shift. I would imagine this isn't so great on the engine/trans mounts, just not sure how much damage it will cause. I can either clear the code, or if I turn the car off for thirty seconds then it goes back to shifting perfectly for about a week. Is it okay to drive it like this until it completely fails then just swap the new one in? Is it harmful to drive it if it starts shifting on maximum pressure constantly? (if the solenoid gets really bad.) I've been told I could get another year out of it and to not spend the money until I 100% need it because it won't shift anymore eventually.
Just looking for some opinions, really.
Thanks!
Personal advice from what ive done, buy triple A for the free towing.keep clearing the code so it shifts smoothly once the transmission finally gives out tow it back home for free, get a few days off from work. Look around for a somewhat acceptable transmission at the junkyard. Few things when at the junkyard, its better to find a trans with brow/reddish fluid still in it than a trans with no fluid at all. Some yards take the fluid out hoping they sell the burnt trans
Thanks for the advice, that sounds about what I'm considering to do.
How long did yours last? And when the code kept coming back after clearing did you still continue to drive it? I'm worried about the hard shifts causing damage to other parts.
When my trans started doing hard and slipping shifts it lasted about another month at 40 miles a day. My junkyard trans is still going even though it had 200k miles, just a matter of time for that trans
(Edit) you might have some damage to the drive shaft if you keep going, but you need to take the drive shaft out anyways for the trans, 2 birds 1 stone kinda thing. I did not see any noticeable damage however
Alright thanks, well right now I'm doing about 85 city miles daily (medication delivery) and sometimes I can go a week without any hard shifts, sometimes it'll do it twice in one day. It's been about 10-15k miles now, hasn't gotten worse but I am expecting it to. When my code isn't set, it shifts perfectly, it doesn't slip at all. When the code comes up and I check the freeze frame data the max allowed time is .65MS, mine is usually .68MS so just over the limit of time.
Edit: Even when the P1811 code comes up, besides shifting hard it still doesn't slip (at least, that I can see.) and goes through all the gears properly.