01 Lesabre trans 2-3 hesitation

My 01 Lesabre, 62K miles, developed a noticeable launch shudder several months ago, seems to come and go randomly but now in cold weather it always does it when cold, shudders then bangs forward when starting from a stop, not all the time, mostly random but worse when cold (as in 10-20 degrees during the day right now). Also shudders when doing 2-1 downshift.

Now, yesterday it started delaying the 2-3 shift, when it goes 1-2 it's fine, but when 2-3 is supposed to come the engine just revs higher and higher, then after about 10-15 seconds it finally shifts forward into 3rd gear. Also, I sometimes get a whining/whirring sound during that 2-3 delay that stops when slowing down at a traffic light. Any idea if these 2 symptoms are related?

BTW, the fluid is clear and up to the right level, although I may have detected a slight smell when checking today that doesn't smell like new trans. fluid. Not sure if I would call it a burned smell or not.

yah if it's brown it's likley it's burnt and that down shifting never helped it either. i would pull the pand off and change filter and fluid. when you drain it take a magnet and see how much shavings or chunks are in there and if it slips after that i think your going to have new tranny or rebuild that one.

good luck....

This could be the typical issue with the pcs solenoid, a trans scan will reveal that issue, the burnt fluid ,may or may not be problematic.

You may want to try a fluid change and add a conditioner such as Lucas. If you can do the changes your self also consider changing the filter as well. Or you you could just take out about 24 oz (the amount in a Bottle of Lucas Trans). This won't fix major problems but at $12 bucks and a little time its worth a shot. My mechanic suggested this for the occasional problem of not shifting between 3-4. After about 75-100 miles it shifts. For me it was worht the effort even if it is temporary.

OK, had a mechanic drive it and he also checked the fluid, he said that there is actually no 3rd gear anymore, it just goes from 2nd, then waits and then goes to 4th gear. Never heard of that happening before, but I guess that's what's wrong. He also said the the fluid looks OK but smells burned, and the whining noise is because the filter gets clogged with particles from the burned clutches, and I should shut down every once in a while and then run again in a few minutes, that unclogs the filter temporarily (??)
If this is the case, will the Lucas additive still help, at least temporarily?

The additive will not help here.

The odds may be against you on this one, as both Scrapper and Maxwedge point out. But if you have the time and equipment to do the fluid and filter change it still may be worth a shot at it. Sometimes it removes any nagging doubt {"what if I just..." or "could I have gotten by with..." }when and if you have to make the major repair. Yes there is some cost involved but you could also get lucky. It would not be the first time a driveway mechanic has rolled the dice and hoped like hell it works. Good luck.