My 1997 Lumina (3.1L Vin M, Automatic) has recently begun to shift
rough while changing from 1st to 2nd. You'll start off of a stop
sign/
light and hit the first shift point where it'll stick for an extra
moment in between gears and then engage very roughly. Every gear
shift after that will be smooth as smooth can be.

It's also had issues with it not wanting to go into gear (be it oD, D,
2, or 1) in certain situations (stopped facing downhill, random times
when on level surface). You can let it sit idle (in N) for a second
(holding up traffic) then try and re-shift it (from N to D) and it'll
start working fine (and then hit the above problem with shifting 1st
to 2nd).

I checked the transmission fluid level (as per the owner manual's
directions, which had to park the car level, shift through all gears
with brake down, let idle for 3-5 minutes, then take reading). The
fluid was at the proper reading (end of the hatched area) and appeared
a "salmon" (reddish-pink) color.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As an unrelated note: Does anyone know how to take the pulley off of
the A/C compressor on the 97 Lumina? I started hearing a loud squeal
from my belt drive system, took off the belt and hand spun all the
pulleys, the compressor one just grinds like mad. I bought a new
bearing for it @ O'Reilly's and have no idea which special tools to
rent/buy to get that thing off.


--Ryan Metcalf