Hi Guys & Gals,

Just thought share a rather strange incident that occurred yesterday
morning. I was on my way to work, and I was going up an on ramp to
highway 5 in Marietta. This ramp doesn't fade out, but becomes part
of the highway for about a mile before it ramps down on to I-75 south.
There is a second lane on this highway that continues on for about
that same mile when it branches with one branch going north and one
going south before swinging north.

So, I've got these two really slow drivers in front of me going up the
ramp, and I plan to move to the other lane and pass these pokeys and
then get back on the ramp/thruway to I-75. I'm just making my move
and stepping down hard on the gas when the vehicle directly in front
of me blocks my advance by moving into the other lane ahead of me.

Now the transmission has already kicked down into 2nd gear, but I
lift my foot off the gas very quickly to avoid crashing into the slow
moving minivan. So now I'm stuck, and can't get around these guys,
and I back off, but I notice the transmission hasn't up-shifted to a
more reasonable gear for the throttle. I could not get it to up-shift
by moving the gear selector either. The car stayed in this gear,
reving about 4500 rpm for nearly 3/4 of a mile. The whole time I"m
trying to get it to respond to the gear selector.

We started braking at that point, as we were coming into the feeder
lanes for I-75 (two lanes run for about 3/4 mile then merge to one, then
merge onto I-75) and traffic is always a bit jammed here. As we were
slowing down, the transmission up-shifted. And has worked as normal
since. I"m just curious as to why it seemd to hang. I know the tranny
will hold a gear a little longer than other cars when down shifting on its
own (stepping down hard on the gas), but that was ridiculous.

I dunno, that was just wierd.

Coyote

 

It's actually a feature of the trans. It (trans) was thinking that you were gonna be into for a while and it kept the gear it thought was best for your current driving situation.
When it happens to me I repeatedly bump the shifter to the right so it will shift.

 

Same here...totally normal, you can even read about it in the owners manual.

 

Agreeing with the others...I thought it was wierd at first, but very handy if you are driving a little more spirited...it will keep up!

 

Yeah, that's what I thought at first... but I've probably got more time
behind the wheel in this model than anyone else (88,000 miles on the
clock) and I've experienced the tranny holding a gear, but never for this
long. And, no amount of slapping the stick would make if come up a gear.
I had traveled nearly a mile at 40 to 50mph, and the tranny just would
not up-shift. It didn't up-shift until I had dropped to about 10 mph.

Had it been the normal hold on 2nd gear, which I've experienced many,
many times, I would not have bothered with posting. This was a really
strange situation.

Anyway, thanks for chiming in guys. I do appreciate the reassurance.
I'm just not sure this was within the normal scope for the tranny.

Thanks again,

Coyote

 

If it gets worse you might want to have the fluid level checked. I've had mine do the same in second gear and have had to stop and restart the car to get it back to normal. I have the leaky connector plug I need to fix and when the fluid gets low it gets stuck in second and will also cause it to go into neutral when I accelerate hard.

 

Thanks for the thought on the tranny fluid. I had the TSB for the leak fixed several years ago, but it could be that the tranny is a little short of fluid. Think I'll have the Service Center check that on Saturday.

Coyote