i'm just wondering what some common causes of hard shifts into second are on the 2002 4-cyl transmission. i have already changed the fluid, and that seemed to help briefly, but the problem came back shortly. any advise is appreciated. i'm just looking for an idea on what the problem is so that i can know how to approach it.

 

It is very well possible that one or more of the clutches are blown. I had the same problem in my 96 and pulled the tranny out to find i had blown every clutch in the damn thing. But my car was hard shifting into most gears and free reving in third and overdrive. The only realy way to check if the clutches are blown i believe is to pull the tranny. I could be mistaken but im 95% sure.

 

thanks for the advise. i'm expecting it's something like that. if so, i may just have to wait until it gets worse to bother doing anything about it.