I'm going to give you guys some back story here so bear with me...

So I recently (~2 weeks ago) bought a used '03 g35 with 60,000 miles on it, it had been in a fender bender and the apparently rich owner decided to just buy a new one. We bought it from the auto body shop who the owner was friends with. This shop seems legitimate and they fixed it up before selling it to us. At first all seemed well but after about a week I began noticing some problems shifting into first gear (automatic transmission by the way). When I stop at a stop sign or just shift into Drive it can sometimes take up to 3-4 seconds to shift into 1st. It barely seems to have the same problem with other gears. It seemed to happen a little more often and the Service Engine Soon light has came on after a few days so I try to drive it as little as possible now. I've only driven a few miles since the problem got worse in fear that I may damage something.

We called up the guy who worked on it and they said it might have lost a small amount of transmission fluid when they did work on it, don't ask me how, I just found this out today. From what I've read after searching through other threads on here I'm guessing there is a good chance this could be the problem, but then again I know next to nothing about cars so I'm asking you guys.

So what do you guys think the problem is and what can I do about it? I appreciate any help!

 

Check the transmission fluid???? Download the FSM for your model year from the net (free) and follow the procedure exactly. If it was run low, you may have killed it already.

 

I can't seem to find the FSM for the 03 sedan, only for the coupe, will it make a difference?

Edit: Nevermind, I found it... I've never done work on a car before past checking the oil but I'll see what I can do tomorrow with this, thanks.

In the meantime any other suggestions are welcome!

 

Since this car is a salvage repair the only suggestion I can offer is for you to take the car back and get your money returned ASAP before you find out how expensive these cars can be to repair out of warranty. With the amount of problems you've had already I bet if you threw a little sugar on that car you could make some LEMONade.

 

wow, 3-4 seconds? Thats a lot. I thought from the title, i figured it would just be an electrical problem remedied by a grounding kit. But that 3-4 seconds seems ridiculous. I would definitely take it in before you drive it further

 

Oops, forgot about this thread. Took it in last week, turns out it was just a malfunctioning transmission solenoid.

 

Glad to hear it's fixed.

 

How did they determine a malfunctioning solenoid?

If its low on fluid it can do that. Drive with it like that for a few days and you'll burn up your fluid and clutch packs.