Hey, either that happens or I got a bad tranny.

Today I drove hard on some empty backroads. In fact in the 8 months I owned the car this is the first day I put the pedal all the way to the floor and the first day I took turns fast enough to cause some tire squeeling.

So anyways, right after I mashed the pedal all the way down a few times I noticed during the rest of my spirited driving that the car didnt want to shift up much. So driving 70mph it stayed in 3rd gear, driving 50mph it stayed in 2nd gear, etc etc. This went on during my whole spirited driving, it kept avoiding shifting to a taller gear unless it absolutely had to.

So once I reached the end and started driving normal it stayed at 60mph in 3rd gear for about 10 seconds then all of a sudden shifted to 4th and 5th and drove normal all the way home....

So my tranny is almost dead... Or really advanced.

 

I believe that is normal operation for your trans when you get serious in your driving.The damn tranny is smarter than most of us drivers LOL--------------------Dave

 

Dude. You really need to hit the GO PEDAL more often!
Must be normal cuz I encounter the same thing. DAILY!

 

It depends a lot on throttle position, load, and a myriad of other factors. It senses you're kicking some *** and keeps you in the meaty part of the power band.

For me I like to keep it above 3-3.5k rpm so I use the auto/manual shift mode to keep the revs up when exiting corners.

Try using the auto/manual shifting to suggest upshifts to the tranny. It works, although not as well as for downshifting. Upshifts are more of a suggestion and have to wait in line to be processed

 

Yaaa...what milkjugg said

 

And this is a bad thing because? I would be pissed if the tranny kept on trying to find a taller gear all the time. Is this car built for fuel economy or sport?

 

haha, when an auto tranny doesn't shift up its a bad sign. So my hope was that this behavior is by design and because I hadn't driven this hard before I was just now discovering it.

And looks like people have confirmed that. And I'm relieved.

 

Sometimes your custom tune can increase your shift point, but stock is still around 6250 rpm in the autostick mode. It will not shift until you past that rpm. It may seem like it's not going to shift but try it out and it will.

 

Hmm, I wonder why my SRT-6 never exceeds 6000 rpms? Even Jerry at LET says they are trying to get the tranny to shift around 6200 with his new tunes.

 

Then it must be the tune. My InMotion tune shifts above 6200 all day long and I have datalogs to prove it. The bugs in your tune hopefully will be worked out soon or all the records will too far out of reach. Just kidding. The reflashes are free so stick it out and I'm sure they will get it before the good weather goes away. Just think of it as you still have a few thousandths left at the track.

 

I know you guys are talking to mimi, but I dont have an aftermarket tune for anyone who was wondering.

Yeah since my tranny sometimes shifts slow it will let me go over 6200 just fine. In those rare moments when I drive hard enough to go that high.

 

It also monitors the steering wheel angle input so if you are not going in a straight line it will hold the lower gear even longer becuase the transmission thinks/knows that you are in a curvy road. I have not personally tried the downshift program yet but supposedly if you hold the autostick to the downshift position for about a second (as opposed to just tapping it) the transmission will find the lowest optimal gear at the speed you are going so you don't have to tap it to downshift two or three gears in succession.

 

mine shift's slow in the morning when i first start out,,
i let the car warm for a few min and seems normal

does anyone else notice the slow shift from first to second once the car sits overnight.

 

I noticed mine does the same thing when I use the pedal Kinda worried me at first, not used to auto's, much German auto's, but now I know. You can learn so much here Thanks!

Gonna have to try some of those autostick functions, they sound awesome.

 

Confirmed I just decided to try this on my way home for lunch. Cruising 55 mph in 5th, pulled shifter to left and held it, shifted into 4th and then straight to 3rd. Same when it was in 4th, held shifter left, went to 3rd and then straight to 2nd.

Neat little trick I just learned.

 

Slow shifts in the morning are usually fluid-level related. As in too little fluid. did you have an electrical connector o-ring leak like basically every Crossfire will or has had? My chrysler dealer DID NOT replace my fluid after repairing my leak, maybe yours didn't either.

But yes, a tranny uses more fluid the colder it is. This is why you are suppose to measure the tranny fluid level when the tranny is hot and has excess fluid sitting in the pan. In the morning, especially the coldest of mornings, all of that fluid is sucked up and used in the tranny. if you have too little, cold = no or very slow shifting.

 

YOU WANT YOUR TRANNY TO STAY IN LOW GEAR. there is a certain amount of throttle that will tell your transmission to shift into a lower gear. usually this is at or near wide open throttle (full throttle). The car was designed to do this and if the tranny does this with out any thumping or clunking then it is perfectly healthy. the lower gear raises your rpms and puts your enine spped in a prime torque area on your tachometer. this is what you want. the reasons why automatic transmissions are designed to do this is for safety. this gear drop is intended to be used for passing and that extra power you recieve when you step on it and it drops into a lower gear is often reffered to as passing power. this allows drivers to pass cars faster which is safer. If you drove a manual transmission vehicle you would understand why your transmission does this. manual drivers do this gear drop on their own during spirited driving and its completely normal. i know because i drive an Audi s4 with a seven speed manual transmission and i just thought i would clear some things up for you guys . so yeah, its what you want to happen and it defianately isnt your tranny slipping out of gear.
huudoo you may want to check your transmission fluid level. if the level seems to be fine then check the fluid itself and see whether or not it needs to be changed. i'd suggest changing it yourself and using a higher quality transmission fluid. this should solve your problem.

ha im only 17

happy driving guys.

 

If you dont drive the car hard enough, it starts complaining.

 

HuuDoo,

I remember reading in the owners manual that the car does that to bring the catalytic converters up to temp. I don't recall exactly were I read it in there but search around in the autostick section...I think it may have been there.

Anyway, sounds like your tranny is operating as designed!

 

LET tune.....shifts at 6200.....on mine anyway....but, INMOTION may get the coupe....leaning that way...oh, that was a bad way to put...my go that way...how's that???? LOL>>>>