'95 Olds Ninety Eight tranny shudder

[evolve991]

My daughters Olds has developed an intermittent slip from dead stop in 1st gear, rarely but more than none. I attributed it to new driver syndrome and my wife,her sister and random friends of my daughter have thoroughly confused and abused the poor Olds for about a year now.

More concerning to me is the nasty shudder on quick deceleration or complete stop. I've been driving it lately and it's a little more drastic than the usual takeoff slop. I don't know if the TCC lock isn't releasing or what. Other than the wandering 1st once in a while all the gears seem to be strong and the upshifts are fine and firm. It's that nerve rattling shudder when I hit the brakes hard or sometimes when coming to a complete stop. I've been downshifting manually but I can't trust the newbies to do that safely.

Anyone know if it's a few miles from roadside paperweight or does she have a little time to deal with this issue?

I know D*CK about front wheel drive or 90s idiotsavant redundancy tech.

***I'm about to talk her into a 76 Skylark(Nova clone) with a Buick 350 from a real Skylark and feel a little more secure about her driving home at midnight***

 

[diesel4me]

If it has a "dog-bone" motor mount,if that breaks or loses the rubber cushions in it,it'll let the engine flop back and forth,that could cause those symptoms..

P.S. I'd feel much safer in a '76 Skylark too,even if it lacks air bags and is probably much more "dangerous".....
I'm not much of a FWD and "newer" vehicle fan either..hate computers,FWD in general,timing belts that snap and bend valves,trash engines--and I can FIX a '76 myself!..

 

[Greg Ducato]

I agree with Robert, mounts are the first thing that came to mind

 

[evolve991]

Thanks guys. That does seem to explain some of the stuff it's doing. I'll check it out.

 

[evolve991]

Wishful thinking. Checked out the mounts after my last post and they're good. Wife and daughter keep telling me " It's not acting up" but I drove it and coming to a stop it clunks and stutters when downshifting. It doesn't actually slip from takeoff as much as it doesn't downshift to low or 2nd. Bad torque converter maybe? Are these trannys the FWD equivalent to old 700Rs?
Wife says it had stopped acting up at all until they hit a pothole hard.

 

[Greg Ducato]

Check the brake switch, may be bad or out of adjustment and failing to cancel the converter clutch

 

[evolve991]

Thanks Greg. You mean the same switch that would power the brake lights right?
On a side note the brake chime likes to ding for no reason too. All this came about after failure to dodge potholes btw.

 

[Greg Ducato]

Yes sir, that's the one