amart79196

I notice that when the tranny and engine are cool and have not been running, the first 5 minutes of driving the shifts are hard and not smooth. Once it warms up, the shifts are much smoother. Any possible reason for this? The car has 70k miles on it, and I have no idea the maintaince history, so, the fluid and filter could be original....I just got this car a month ago. I also heard that sometimes changing the fluid could bring on problems as well.
As this is an expensive part to change/fix....I want to take as much advice from the experts here before attempting anything. Thanks in advance for your time.

donwan1802

i thonk thats normal, because my 01 gs3 does the same thing also. question, i want to know if your car shifts fast, especially when hot. with my car the 2nd gear shifts at 2000rmp and the 3rd at 2500. also when starting to drive it moves lazy. does your car also do the same?

amart79196

I haven't checked the shift RPM patterns, but it is not normal to have hard shifts, then they smooth out once warm. Something is wrong...i just dont know what.

Kaiser

iTrader: (1)

You are probably a little low on transmission fluid. As it heats, trans fluid expands which equals higher pressure in the valve body, thus firmer shifts. Trans fluid expands something like 1.6 times when hot. If you are low you may notice it doesn't grab in reverse well when cold.

amart79196

Kaiser,
I will check this now. I really do appreciate all of your help here! Your the best!