2006 Chevrolet Impala: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Oct 24, 2014 · Electrical, Steering · 101,000 miles · VA

I purchased my 2006 impala ss brand new in 2006. I've been a loyal gm customer my whole life. At 99,000 started experiencing transmission issues, slipping,and hard shifting... At 101,000 miles I was driving down the highway and my transmission stopped working. I refinanced my car to rebuild the transmission for $2,200 . After the rebuild transmission was working ok. Then at 122,000 miles it stopped working again... It was snowing and I was stranded in the turn lane of a road with a speed limit of 55mph... I turned off my car let the engine cool down and back on at least 20 times... My car moved about 200 feet each time... An hour later I got back to my house that was 5miles from the failure. I cant afford to fix it now and I am still paying for the car. Its been sitting in my yard for 10 months. This issue is very dangerous and needs to be resolved. I also received a recall for my power steering hose, got it fixed and the brackets came loose from my frame causing my steering to get very hard. I pulled over and checked my power steering fluid at walmart and it was empty. I filled it and everything was working. The next morning I had no power steering again... My hose had rubbed on my frame making a hole. I went to the store and bought more power steering fluid but after I put it in my steering was making a loud sound and didn't turn well. I think it was damaged due to the leak. I too have a loud clicking sound coming from my dashboard when I turn on my car. I was told by the dealership it was the vent flap motor ... $750 dollars to repair... Part is only $65 the rest is labor... Also when I first bought my car I had to get all 4door windows replaced (under warranty) due to improper window guide adjustment. And my automatic trunk release works off and on, my keyless entry only works 5 feet from my car with new batteries,and all tire pressure sens. Went bad$100 each help.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Transmission · 31,000 miles · IA

I had just purchased this car in january of 2007 and I had noticed the transmission having issues when shifting gears. I first noticed this issue when backing out of my driveway and pulling the car into gear (drive) there would be a hesitation and a "clunk" noise. I was not sure what the issue was at first so I waited until it happened again and called the local chevy dealer to inspect it, as it was under warranty. The mechanic could not replicate the problem and told me there was no issue. The transmission had continued to have issues over the past 6-7 years. I also had the transmission act up when I would be driving in town from a stop up to highway speeds. At a full stop the car would hesitate to shift into gear almost causing multiple accidents. Many times I would need to down shift to first gear and up shift in order to get my vehicle going. In the past three years I have personally almost been in about 12 or more potential accident situations because of the transmission issue. I have read in many online forums that this is a serious and known issue with the chevy impala transmission. This is an issue that needs to be researched and resolved with a recall campaign. From what I have researched online there is an issue with a module with the transmission. Please research this issue as I will be contacting gm as well over this faulty part/design of transmission.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · IA

I was stopped at a stoplight and tried to accelerate only to find out I was not moving much. I determined there was another issue with the transmission not shifting into gear. The light turned green and I was almost rear ended in a multiple vehicle accident until I slowly down shifted out of drive to 1st gear. I was finally able to up shift through 1st, 2nd, 3rd gears up to road speed and then shift into drive. This has been a regular occurrence since this time. I have issues with hard shifting when I back out of my driveway, from a full stop and even when the transmission tries to shift up when I am driving in town or highway speeds. This creates a very dangerous situation for me and other drivers. Please research this issue and bring this to the attention of general motors. I think for as many impacted cars as are on the road there should be a safety recall issued. I don't think there needs to be deaths with people driving these cars before the manufacturer should make design changes. When I purchased this car I thought it would be safe and have just normal wear and tear issues. This has not been the case with my 2006 chevrolet impala. I have had numerous issues crop up that I see other car owners have endured as well from the online posts about said such issues. I am happy for youtube and others that had gone through the same issue. At least I was able to figure out how to resolve some issues when the local gm dealership garage and mechanics could not isolate and trouble shoot my issues. As I report yet another issue today I received a recall notice about the ignition today.

Filed Jun 1, 2013 · Electrical, Transmission · 78,000 miles · TX

My 2006 chevy impala will not turn on. I replaced the battery and starter with the same results. Starter relay is also good. I have researched this problem on the web and to my horror, this is a common problem with this vehicle, with very high dollar possible solutions that may not work. Every time I bring in this vehicle I am charged 100 dollars for them to say what is wrong and when they (supposedly) fix it ( or say it did not do it with them and its all in my head and your doing something wrong to it), it does it again. The charging system is ok but there is no power at all thruout the car but if you wait a couple of hours it will show lights but it will not even crank and then go completely dead. This same problem has happened from every other customer who has had this problem and cost them plenty of money without a solution. I have researched youtube, yahoo answers, fixit, etc... And this is what all these other numerous customers are saying even when they went to the chevy certified mechanics throuout the country. I do not have the resources to keep paying for diagnosis and numerous possible fixes that does not remedy the problem. Bringing the vehicle to a chevy dealer for them to charge me an arm and a leg to not fix the problem ( and no they will not give you a refund for not fixing the problem that they charge a 100 dollars upfront to diagnose). This is not the only problem, the transmission slams into gear especially when you come from a start or after you back up and drive forward. This is not normal but chevy will say it us. I take pride in keeping my car running so I know it is not from neglect or abuse this is simply an ongoing problem that these chevy vehicles have because I m seeing this exact same problem on their other models throughout multiple year spectrum. This is ridiculous!!! All these consumers across the country are not wrong.

Filed Mar 6, 2012 · Transmission · 58,773 miles · PA

Transmission slipping, hard shifts, broken motor mounts. Transmission acts like it's not in gear, doesn't engage until about 2,000 RPM then slams into gear. Also slips when shifting from 1st to 2nd and again when in 4th gear. *tr transmission failure, the transmission fails to fully engage in to any gear when it is supposed to, it will slip and catch from a stop, the torque converter fails to lock up and all gears slip under moderate to heavy acceleration.

Filed Dec 20, 2011 · Steering · 21,000 miles · NY

I have been hearing a clunking noise with my 2006 impala around 21,000 miles. When I brought it to the chevy dealer where I purchased the vehicle, they told me it was the rack and pinion system that needed to be changed. At this time the vehicle was four years old and no longer under warranty. I done some further research and spoke to a few other impala owners and they had the same issue, and had the intermediate steering shaft replaced. I brought it to another chevy dealer and self diagnosed the problem and they agreed with me. I had it changed with 28,000 miles on it. I contacted chevy and asked how this part can fail with so few miles. They blame it on wear and tear and didn't want to give me any assistance with the repair. This has been an ongoing problem with many impala and lumina lines for years, and should be covered under a recall.

Filed May 16, 2011 · Transmission · 71,000 miles · 00

Impala "ss" with only approximately 71,000 miles, major transmission malfunction / failure without any prior warning. Vehicle had only been serviced at gm dealership since purchased, all regular maintenance followed. Transmission slippage combined with harsh shifting, torque converter shudder, grinding noises from gears. Vehicle would alternate between not going forward or, once moving, very difficult to stop vehicle because transmission did not disengage (nearly rear ended other vehicles, had to stand on brake pedal). No warning lights nor dash indicators, but remote diagnostic via onstar confirmed transmission failure and directed for immediate repair. Valve body, pressure regular, all solenoids (rebuild) replaced under gmpp extended warranty coverage. Not even two weeks later, problems returned but worse. The federal safety agency campaign # 10021844 and tsb # 070730012c seem to address this issue. Vehicle now at gm dealership being assessed. Onstar diagnostics found no issue. Still no warning indicators, but vehicle have high RPM without any forward motion when accelerator depressed. Rpms would also bounce up and down erratically on highway at steady speed, vibrations and whining noises from transmission. Apparently this is known defect with multiple vehicles equipped with the 4t65-e transmission, but there has never been any recall. Cost of repairs for this between $4,000 and $6,000 if not under warranty. This likely effects hundreds of thousands of gm vehicles covering many model years.

Filed Jan 7, 2011 · Transmission · 59,000 miles · CA

Transmission has been rebuilt once, then subsequently replaced with a remanufactured unit from general motors. This remanufactured transmission is now displaying anomalous behavior. Prior to each failure, the transmission exhibited a variety of incorrect behavior, including rapid torque converter clutch locking and unlocking, slipping and revving from a stop, without the car moving, then suddenly slamming into gear with the car moving away from rest. The most recent issue has been an oscillation on 4-3 downshifts at approximately 60 MPH, as well as excessive transmission heat build-up with the torque converter unlocked. The first time the transmission displayed odd behavior, which was torque converter lock and unlock at cruising speeds, dealer drove the car acknowledged the problem, and upon disassembly, found torque converter clutch material in the pan. They rebuilt the transmission with new soft parts and replaced the converter. Vehicle had 59,000 and this was all performed under warranty. About 23,000 miles later, when pulling away from a stop, the engine would rev up momentarily, but the car would not move. It would then slam into gear and move off. Dealer confirmed issue, disassembled, and determined that the torque converter clutch had again failed. Dealer replaced transmission with a remanufactured unit. This was all done under warranty. Vehicle had approximately 86000 miles at this time. Immediately upon receiving car back after replacement of transmission, noted oscillation on 4-3 downshifts, as well as much higher transmission temperatures with converter unlocked (about 40 degrees higher), as well as excessive looseness of the torque converter. Returned to dealer, who claimed all was normal. Since that time, warranty has expired. The oscillation and heat issues have worsened, and the car is now being serviced at an independent shop and having a partial rebuild.

Filed Nov 2, 2010 · Steering · 15,900 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet impala. The contact noticed a clunking sound when she turned the steering wheel to the right. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the intermediate steering shaft needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact called the manufacturer and was told that someone would call her back with a response. The current and failure mileage was approximately 15,900.

Filed Dec 2, 2009 · Steering · 53,000 miles · MI

I have a 2006 chevy impala and the steering is terrible. It clunks and when I put on the brake it goes to the left, having no control. Please is this covered in a recall.

Filed Nov 17, 2009 · Steering · 61,000 miles · MN

Steering: I started hearing a noise - like a clunking in, at the same time I would feel it in my steering wheel...when I would turn left or right, it would clunk and kind of shake or vibrate....it got worse and worse and every time I would turn the car to the left or right, it would clunk louder and could hear it and feel it. I went to the local auto repair, and they found that they had to replace the intermediate steering shaft....this part cost $120.00 plus the labor to install.

Filed Sep 27, 2009 · Steering · WI

On many late model chevrolet and gm cars, there is a clunking issue on the intermediate steering shafts. I have taken mine to the dealer and at that time the fix was to repack the shaft with grease or put a new one on. This fi is at the owners expense. Gm and chevrolet are very experienced with this issue as doing an internet search will bring up many articles. There are at least two redesign of this component. This component is not even a scheduled maintenance item. The fact that there are design iterations but still no recall is ludicrous. If my owners manual said grease the steering shaft every 10000 miles, I can understand no recall. But chevy has never stated it to be a maintenance item and the fact there are redesigns says there is and issue that needs to be looked after.