I had heard about this problem prior to this but I had not had enough money to get the radiator changed out. My wife came home just a while ago frantic because the tranny had suddenly started slipping and the car was overheating. I looked the car over and it seemed a bit hot and the coolant level was low. I checked the tranny fluid and it was bone dry. I went to the parts store and got some coolant and tranny fluid. I came back and opened the coolant puke tank. There was tranny fluid in the throat of the puke tank. What the hell, GM? If you know this is a common recurrent problem, why didn't you do a recall?

I was driving down a hilly, curvy road during a severe thunderstorm and my car just stopped accelerating suddenly. I pulled off to the side of the road as best as i could. When the rain let up briefly, I got out to investigate. I checked the level of the fluid and there really wasn't any on the stick. I called for help. Of course not smart in lightening storm with a cell phone. A friend came and picked me up we drove to the nearest autoparts store and bought transmission fluid, thinking it may have been just a dumb moment. Put the fluid in the car, waited and tried to put into gear. I started coasting backwards(down the hill). Tow truck arrived and i got it home, shops weren't opened at this time. My dad investigated and found a disconnected hose from the transmission to the radiator. The connector itself was intact, but the thread in the radiator was not enough to keep the hose in place. In researching, I found out that its a manufacture defect that isn't deemed a "recall" as of yet. Even though it spans from 1999 to 2005 models. Apparently they just replace the radiator with an "upgraded" better built radiator that doesn't strip. Another pain in the ass is that this seems to happen just after the warranty expires!