transmission problem?

[83cutlasssedan]

I have been having an ongoing problem with my car. First of all when I shift out of park to drive, it often clunks harshly into gear. Any ideas what this could be?
Also, when accelerating on the highway, when the transmission shifts from 2nd to 3rd, the engine makes a rattling hesitating noise like it has shifted too early. Could these two problems be related? If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I have been trying to figure this out for a few months now.

Thanks in advance

 

[Derision]

What trans is it? 3-speed or 4-speed? 350, metric, eh?

I've got a TH350 that has clunked into gear since it was put in almost a decade ago. After having it looked at quite a bit, I've been told that it's perfectly alright. Pulled the pan last winter (I had a leaky gasket)... looked like new in there.

I would be concerned with the hesitation, though.

 

[megaladon6]

trans problems are kinda hard to diagnose over the internet, hell they're hard to diagnose if you're there, but i'd say it's a pressure problem. you may want to try changing the filter, see if that changes anything.
but before you do anything make sure it has enough fluid.

 

[84GP455]

the clunking noise could be your universal joints, and the other noise could be loose torque converter bolts....it happened to me,,i had a chevy s/10 that the transmission was worked on and the guy didn't tighten the tourque converter bolts enough.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Your TV cable sounds like the culprit. It may be out of adjustment or broken and that would cause the shift points to be wrong. In addition, the U joints may also be bad which would cause the clunk. It could also be a bad mount which can move things out of alignment and sometimes cause these issues. It can even be a idle that is set too high. If you have a TH-350, it can also be related to the vacuum modulator-possibly a broken vacuum line. In the future, specify which engine/trans you have a the diagnosis is different for the different parts.