Hey gang - 88 350 TPI (auto trans). Until today I thought this was normal for my GTA. But I stumbled on a post from someone which is making me question what I thought was normal.

When I shift from Park to Drive, the car jolts forward. Pretty violent actually. Even with the brake depressed it'll jolt a good two or three inches. Also when I drive uphill, the shifting doesn't seem right. Just keeping the pedal steady to maintain speed on the inline, the car keeps shifting from third to fourth...back to third...back to fourth...a series of times until I eventually get frustrated and just push the pedal down further.

Other than the uphill issue and Park-to-Drive jolt, normal driving seems fine. Shifts don't seem violent or out of whack at all. Tranny fluid was changed last year. Minimal miles placed on the car since then. Could this be a sign of a bad or mis-adjusted TV cable? If so, are there any vids or articles that can give me some pointers on adjusting it? I found this one but the setup seems completely different than mine. https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/detent.shtml

Thanks in advance for any help everyone!

 

www.tvmadeez.com/article/index.php

 

Definitely a very helpful site. THANK YOU! But what about the symptoms I described? Would the TV cable be the first likely culprit? Or something else? I guess a more generally helpful answer would be - are thirdgens normally supposed to jolt when shifting from Park to Drive? I've not had an opportunity to drive very many. So I don't know what a normal shift would feel like.

Oh I should point out the read brakes look good, the RPM's are idling normal (600 - 650), and I don't really hear a THUNK sound when I shift. It's more just a forward jolt of the whole car.

 

The TV cable controls line pressure in the transmission that controls shift points. The TV cable should have no impact on entering drive.