1993 Saturn SL Reverse Gear Automatic Transmission Problem

I have a 1993 Saturn SL. On cold starts in the morning there is no
problem putting the car into reverse gear (automatic) and driving.
However, after the car has been warmed up and has been running for
awhile if you try to put car into reverse there is a delay and then it
goes into reverse with a rather loud and violent jerk or it will just
hang there. If you slow press the accelerator then it seems to go into
the reverse gear but you have to be careful otherwise it clunks and
jerks back suddenly. In drive and neutral gear there is no problem.

The "Service Engine Soon" light is also on in the dash every on and
then. The error code from the scanner reads Code 12, but I cannot find
anyone to tell me what to fix for this code?

Took it to a transmission place and the mechanic told me the reverse
clutch was broken and would cost $900 parts and labour included and he
would rebuild the existing transmission?

Any ideas on the cause of this problem, how to fix and approximate
cost?

Cheers...

 

Go to saturn fans and search for 'reverse slam'/ There are lots of
posts. Here's one to start with.
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-23670.html

 

we had that probem with our 02 sl1; took it into the shop the next
day. they replaced 2 burned out solenoids- at a good penny...2 weeks
after having taken the car in for regular service and being told then
the car was in beautiful shape, couldn't find anything wrong
then...huh ! real confidence inspring

 

When a solenoid fails, it usually goes open circuit, so it either works or
doesn't. I'm not trying to defend Saturn or the dealer who you had do the
work, but in this case the failure could not have been detected prior to
the actual failure two weeks later. That said, for me at least, TWO
simultaneous solenoid failures seems hard to chalk up to coincidence.

Bob

 

thank you for your information Bob, I have found myself increasingly
distrustful of Saturn dealerships over the years and every occurance
or incident just reinforces that, combined with the knowledge that
business is very slow for them. The 1st part of your reply is
comforting, the 2nd undoes the 1st- so it is very balanced.