Replaced Solenoids but car will not shift and grinds when trying to

I dont know who said to replace all the solenoids if the line pressure solenoid was bad I would have only replaced that solenoid. But how did you determine it was bad?You could have a pressure regulator issue which is way more common then the line pressure solenoid going bad.

Did you remove the valve body at all?

Alright thats what I thought you dont have to remove the valve body to replace the solenoid. Sounds like you didnt hook back up the shift rod linkage to the manual valve on the valve body?If you didnt these things will happen. What happens is the rod gets bet and or ground up when you dont hook the rod up and start it and shift the shifter. Sound like something that might have happened?

So was the linkage unhooked from the valve body? Also was bent or ground up?You put sealant on the valve body cover gasket?If so you never use sealant on those they have compression gasket and you just replace them. Also how would I know if the hard shifting will be gone I didnt diagnose the problem and sounds like you didnt ethier and just guessed and replaced the solenoids. If it still hard shifts after this we will have to diagnose the problem and you will have to by a transmission pressure tester kit the one I have is under 100 and works great.

You said you rechecked all your work solenoids etc and asked with a question mark will this solve my problems then said I hope it will. So that confused me if you were asking a question or thinking out loud. So you removed the valve body from the transmission when you did the work?The linkage is at the back valve body on the bottom side on the passenger side of it. The end of the rod must go into the hole of the manual valve. Thats a tube looking thing with a plastic cap on the end so the rod can only go in one side of the valve. Also I have seen way more and I mean a ton more worn pressure regulator bores in the upper valve body cause hard shifting and pressure issues in the transmission then the pressure control solenoid. So that wasnt a good guess if your going for odds of fixing the problem. Also if you bought the solenoids new that was expensive for all of them. As far as a valve body I wouldn't by a factory one complete. I used to instantly them on the customers cars and a year later or so had customers come back again with pressure issues.I have a 1999 sl2 and have valve body issues I bored the pressure regulator out and installed a sonnax sleeve also put in there pressure regulator there damping spring and improved boost valve big difference in shifting more firm and less flaring between gears. You need a expensive tool kit to that though wouldn't be practical for you to by and do. You can get valve bodys on ebay already done just buy from a reputable seller abd read listing closely. The pressure test kit is just a gauge and the adapters to measure transmission line pressure on the transmission. I have a otc one and really like it and have used it many times. Before I replace anything I check for codes and do a kine pressure test at the very least east and go from there with my findings. Just to give you a back ground on me so you know I know what iam talking about iam a factory trained saturn tech trained 3 weeks in spring hil Tennessee where they built the cars and worked for saturn over 16yrs. So I really know these cars usually when a pressure control solenoid goes bad on a s model that new you get alot of flaring before it shifts to the next gear. Not a hard shift.

Also if you had that linkage unhooked and started it moved the shifter etc you must inspect it for damage and being bent ground up. If its too badly damaged it must be replaced.

What gear are we talking about?I have never seen a gear get damaged from having the linkage unhooked and starting it. The way you can tell if its bent is hook it back up try shifting the shifter thru the gears. If it shifts smoothly without a lot of force to move it to reverse 3 2 etc like its binding most likely its not bent.I would try to salvage it if you can. Because honestly I dont know where your going to find one except maybe pick a part ebay or maybe a website call parts. Com

You should be able to remove the 13 mm nut inside the transmission and remove linkage from the selector shaft to put the new linkage on.