02 esteem transmission-help! - Page 3

sblrog · 06-17-2009, 08:57 AM

Thanks. I'll give that a shot. Off the top of your head, do you know the size of the hex (I'll have to go out and buy one)?

jim_naisium · 06-17-2009, 03:07 PM

Hi,

This plug requires a 10mm allen (something) to get it out, mine was in REALLY tight and took a lot of force to get it out, if you have any choice in the matter get the 1/2 drive socket instead of the wrench.

Isuzuzuki man · 06-17-2009, 11:55 PM

29 Ft lbs is the torque BTW.

sblrog · 06-18-2009, 04:41 PM

Thanks to Jim for the additional info & Isuzusuki for the torque spec. Isuzu, I noticed you no longer have any Esteems left. Does that mean we won't see you around too much more?

I actually measured the hex size & bought a hex driver before I read Jim's response. 10 mm hex drives with a 1/2" socket are harder to come by than 10 mm hexes with a 3/8" socket. As Jim mentioned, the bolt was very tight, but the 3/8" socket did the trick. Unfortunately, I tightened up before reading the torque spec.

I drained out quit a bit of ATF (~1.5 liters, ~1.5 quarts) to get the level to the middle of the hot range. I will update to let you know if it made a difference (could be a while since the problem was pseudo-intermittent to start with).

Thanks again.

sblrog · 07-04-2009, 02:35 AM

Just an update. The draining of the excess ATF has not resolved my issues: occasional difficulty upshifting to OD after merging onto the highway, and occasional abrupt dropping out of OD when cruising at ~80 km/h (~50 mph) and releasing the accelerator.

I bought a code scanner last week, but haven't scanned yet. I guess that should be my next move?

sblrog · 07-04-2009, 03:44 AM

Okay, couldn't sleep so I scanned my Esteem. No diagnostic trouble codes were stored. I guess it must have been more than 40 warm-up cycles since the check engine light went off.

Any suggestions about my next move? Wait til the problem gets worse?

Isuzuzuki man · 07-05-2009, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sblrog

Thanks to Jim for the additional info & Isuzusuki for the torque spec. Isuzu, I noticed you no longer have any Esteems left. Does that mean we won't see you around too much more?

Naa, I still have this site on my favs, i read it once in a while. Dang I wished I'd kept my 02 4 dr Sedan Esteem. But that is hindsight, I sold it to buy a truck then totaled the truck a week later. Crappy luck. Now I;m without a decent vehicle, just my Isuzus, which are showing age.
We bought a 02 Nissan Quest to replace the Esteem Wagon, you can see my old Wagon here

sblrog · 07-16-2009, 08:13 PM

I wanted to provide some more info on my tranny problems (abrupt, unexpected shifting out of overdrive at ~50 MPH/80 km/h), and why it occurs with my wife, and not me. I was driving as the passenger the other day, when I was reminded that that my wife can't help tailgating. She's basically constantly on and off the accelerator abruptly. When the car-in-front's bumper gets more than 10 ft (OK, maybe 15 ft) away, she's on the accelerator abruptly, so that the car doesn't get too far away. But then she gets too close, and lets off abruptly. And this cycle repeats itself. This causes the car to downshift out of OD abruptly sometimes.

Given the above, is it possible that the transmission control unit is operating correctly, but is confused by my wife's driving behavior? More importantly, could such behavior damage the transmission?

Thanks for your help!

jim_naisium · 07-16-2009, 10:47 PM

Ok, I don't mean to say anything bad about anyone but with driving habits like that she is an accident waiting to happen, most state laws either have the "2 second rule" or the "One car length for every 10mph" rule, I go by the car length rule where every 10 mph you are traveling you leave one car length between you and the car in front of you this is supposed to give you enough room to stop under normal driving conditions without crashing into the car in front of you. The police here where I live are allowed to pull you over and will give you a ticket for tailgating.

Alright, now that school is over...

Yes her erratic driving is probably confusing the tranny controller, especially since it only does it when she is driving and doesn't do it when you are driving, I would see if you can get her to drive "normally" and then see if the problem goes away.

As far as damaging the tranny, probably no.
Wear it out quicker, yes.
Get very bad gas mileage, yes.
Likely of rear ending someone, yes.