Hi Scotty, I have a 2001 Buick Regal with 185,000 km on it. After I have been driving the car for 20 minutes and it has gotten hot, it starts hard shifting each gear. I also start hearing a pronounced whining coming from the trany in the lower gears. If I turn off the car and then start it again the problem disappears. A mechanic told me it was a sticking valve issue in the trany creating too much pressure. Is their anything I can do about it such as using trany cleaner like Lucas? Thanks.
It's already got internal damage. That's the internal parts getting hot and seizing. Any debris has already circulated through the torque convertor and just about ruined it. Complete rebuild, torque convertor, while everything is off the car...flush the transmission cooler and its lines.
Normally I don't recommend flushing a transmission EVER, but this is a special case where crud has built up in the valve body prevent the valves from operating correctly. Have a GOOD mechanic do a fluid flush on your transmission and change the filter inside. You want to make sure they use the same pressure the transmission uses to flush out the system...nothing more than that, otherwise the seals and valves will get damaged even more than they are now. It's not that old to have a new fill on fluid.
