Oil Light intermittent / AT Shifting - solenoid? / Oil Leak - re-torque?
Hi all,
1st off, thanks for all the help thru great write ups and diagrams. I did a turbo upgrade, cleaned the sump and oil pick up screen. Also replaced engine mounts, alternator, O2 sensors, belt tensioner, valve cover gasket, chain upper guide, oil pump gasket and O-ring (there was no leak there. Turns out that is the cylinder head).
Looking for some help with several issues on my 2002 9-5 Linear, automatic transmission.
I have 140 K miles on it. Bought it used with, I think 50 K miles in 2005.
The current issues are :
- OIL LIGHT comes on intermittently. Oil level is fine. I live up a steep hill and it started coming on after driving up, stopping and reversing into my driveway. It just flashes on and then off again as soon as I apply even a tiny amount of gas. On/off, on/off and so on. I shut the engine off and the next morning, or even a little later I can drive without the light coming on.
- I recently started using Rotella T6 (full synthetic 5W-40). It occurs to me maybe it was the new filter? But I used a Bosch. Nah, couldn’t be that, could it?
- A local shop mentioned that they had a customer with a similar issue and they tried various things. Finally switched oil to a 10W-40 and the issue stopped. I have a hard time believing that but will try it.
- Has anyone experienced something similar?
- AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION SHIFTING problem : when the engine is warm, it sometimes takes a long time to change from Drive to Reverse and back, and sometimes it slams into gear really loudly. Also, when driving uphill on windy roads the gears seem to switch and pause and slam up and down.
- The local shop owner told me that a solenoid that GM engineers decided to put inside the transmission gets too hot and fails. This causes false readings and the gears slam around. He also said that by removing the battery and battery mount its possible to access the transmission plate that needs to be removed in order to replace that solenoid.
- Is this correct, does it sound like the problem and are there any pics / diagrams available?
- OIL LEAK at CYLINDER HEAD : The bolts were re-torqued a few years ago but not replaced. I believe the original bolts are still in there.
- Can I re-torque those again, or do they have to be replaced with new stretch or standard bolts?
- FUEL EFFICIENCY : After replacing O2 sensors, DIC, plugs, cleaning sump, oil change, the usual, fuel efficiency jumped from around 21 to 31 mpg highway (on cruise control), and about 18+ commuting (I live up a steep big hill).
- After degreasing engine passenger side at a carwash (using low pressure degrease setting, and trying to be as careful as possible not to degrease anything that shouldn’t be) to find the location of the oil leak, fuel efficiency dropped way down and the engine ran rough until I took it on a longer drive. After that it seemed to get better, but still not nearly what it was (commuting about 15 instead of 18).
- The oil light issue also started after this.
- Any ideas at all?
The OIL LIGHT issue is worrying me a whole lot.
The AT SHIFTING issue is driving me insane.
The OIL LEAK is causing bushings to degrade (and who knows what else), and staining my driveway.
The FUEL EFFICIENCY issue is making me want to swap the car for something else.
I know these are a lot of issues, and if asked to, I will split them up into separate threads.
Looking forward to fixing these things! [FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT] Thanks!