The easiest way to adjust it is to tighten it all the way and then back it off slightly. If you get a jerky shift, back it off a little more.

The above is quite different than the process described before; I'd like to try it, but want to be sure it wont hurt anything; is it safe? Thank you

 

That process was what a friend who was a trans mechanic said to do. Due to the limited amount of space you have to work with doing that method or just adjusting it slightly is all you can do. There's no way you're going to get a torque wrench or anything up there to adjust it like the FSM says. So if you adjust it, just adjust a little bit at a time.

is there any chance this would cause a "hard" 1-2 shift and no other symptoms??

 

having read the fsm pages attached, i've already planned to double check and make sure that my wife's 97 GT 2.2L auto does not make a 1-3 shift. i don't think it does, but i still want to check.

 

 

When does it do a hard 1-2 shift? Does it do it all the time or if you accelerate and let off a little, then it shifts?

When does it do a hard 1-2 shift? Does it do it all the time or if you accelerate and let off a little, then it shifts?

 

it does it all the time, especially hard during strong acceleration.

 

also shifts hard if i start in 1 and manually shift to 2.

 

if i take it real easy, and let off the gas at 15 - 20 mph it will shift fairly easily.

You can try adjusting it, but I'd probably leave it alone. From my experience these transmissions have a more firm 1-2 shift than other autos I've driven. It's just how they are, especially under strong acceleration.