9_5 hard transmission clunk, decreased performance, appreciate any thoughts!

[SilverSurfer]

2011 Turbo 4 113,000 miles, well cared for, 5K oil changes, etc. No problems to date

About 2 months ago, on deceleration, whether taking foot off gas or braking, my dear car would seem to drag a little. Hard to describe, but it felt as though car was being held back from drifting, maybe like a slight downshift.

Being the second owner, I thought I'd have trans fluid checked. Distant Saab mechanic told me you could only pump half of the fluid out at a time, and that it was down a quart. $300 later, the car did the same odd downshift.

Trusted local mechanic unable to look at it, so of course kept driving (BAD idea, I know). Yesterday, after driving 1 mile and stopping for a light, the car clunked and jerked hard. Mechanic was only a mile away. I limped down the shoulder with tach hitting 4.5 - 5 to reach speed of 45 mph. Each brake caused another clunk and hard lurch forward.

If it IS the transmission, did 9_5s use Lacrosse trans? Can these be competently rebuilt? Can used trans be trusted?


Thanks for any insight you can provide!
garry

[Stjarn Goss]

Sounds like your 35R wave plate in the transmission broke. It's about a $3600 repair. If they can just replace your wave plate. If the breaking plate left a lot of debris or ruined other components, more. Well, $3600 was the going rate before the pandemic anyway.

[SilverSurfer]

Sounds like your 35R wave plate in the transmission broke. It's about a $3600 repair. If they can just replace your wave plate. If the breaking plate left a lot of debris or ruined other components, more. Well, $3600 was the going rate before the pandemic anyway.

Is this something that a regular mechanic can do, or must the car go to a transmission shop? Apparently there are multiple wave plates inside and new replacements have been hardened to resolve the problem — sounds like they should all be replaced at the same time. Read that someone dropped the subframe a little and accessed the 35R thru the side cover, but obviously nothing I’d do. I’ll pass your super helpful intel on to the mechanic!

[Stjarn Goss]

Personally, I would want it done by someone who has done it numerous times before. Such as a transmission shop. With a clear, documented warranty. And that's where that figure of $3600 is from.

More important than just replacing a broken plate is FIRST determining if additional components also have damage. Replacing other parts might not be as straightforward or simple as replacing the 35R plate.

A few GM people say they have been willing to gamble on a used transmission if they can confirm it came from a later model with the updated plate. However I don't know if there were any SAABs with the updated design. Maybe a transmission shop that has experience with SAABs would know.

Let us know how things end up for you.

[SilverSurfer]

Thanks so much, Stjarn, I'll follow your much appreciated and sound advice!

Personally, I would want it done by someone who has done it numerous times before. Such as a transmission shop. With a clear, documented warranty. And that's where that figure of $3600 is from.

More important than just replacing a broken plate is FIRST determining if additional components also have damage. Replacing other parts might not be as straightforward or simple as replacing the 35R plate.

A few GM people say they have been willing to gamble on a used transmission if they can confirm it came from a later model with the updated plate. However I don't know if there were any SAABs with the updated design. Maybe a transmission shop that has experience with SAABs would know.

Let us know how things end up for you.

[SilverSurfer]

Hi, Stjarn, just a short update to my odd downshift on deceleration problem:The trans shop didn’t say anything about the 35R wave plate problem, but assured me they could fix the trans for $6,000. So I took it back to my mechanic wo flushed the trans TWICE and scanned while driving and said the car was shifting as normal. I need to follow-up and ask him if he has both the TECH2 and GM MDI scanners someone mentioned were necessary to properly diagnose the problem.After getting the car back with a ‘clean’ bill of health, it felt almost normal on side roads, but with a small downshift when applying the brakes or taking my foot off the gas. I assume if I had the 35R wave plate problem you mentioned, the trans wouldn’t work at all?But then I had 2 white knuckle, 45-minute freeway drives where on deceleration, I felt that funny downshift again and thought I could be in for the clunk of death. Obviously, I’m not convinced it’s fixed. If my mechanic does NOT have TECH2 and/or GM MDI scanners, do you know if any decent Buick dealer will have them? Thank you!