Been noticing recently that in light traffic the tranny seems to hunt for gears, or make an abrupt upshift which is very noticable. At first I thought I might have hit a bump or pot hole, but after paying attention to it, It's the tranny.....


Car is a 350 with 1200 miles.


Any thoughts or others who might be seeing this?

 

Are you sure it's hunting (which means shifting back and forth between gears constantly) or just shifting when you don't think it should be? I noticed immediately on my test drive that the shifts were pronounced. I like that about the car. Others likely don't.

 

I've had similar experiences with the 250. It's as if the car can't seem to decide which gear it should be in. Doesn't happen often enough or last long enough for me to diagnose it.

 

Ehh.....well........I'll be driving along, usually in the residential areas and all of the sudden it up shifts with a thunk for no apparent reason. Steady thottle.

Notchy would also discribe it. I have not noticed it downshifting really. Just on the upshift. It's pretty apparent when it does it.

 

psh thats what u get for having a auto 250. if u don't pop for the 350 you should at least get a manual!

i've noticed in automatic mode on the 350 the first gear is kind of jumpy if you're not carefull with the throttle. in S though its much more natural. so not sure what you mean by hunting

 

I've noticed coming home when I turn onto my street I have to slow right down. Car will be in 2nd and I have to slow down just enough for it to drop into 1st but then usually touch the gas right away again. It searches in 1st for a second (revs for a second without engaging 1st gear) then makes an abrupt jumps into 2nd. If I don't hit the gas right away when it downshifts all is fine, but if I'm touching the gas right after it decided to move into 1st it seems to get confused.

 

250 does the same thing at first . 80% traffic for 30miles and after 1 month 2200miles it seems to know what gears it should be on now

i dont feel the shifting that much anymore either that or i got used to it.

hang in there maybe the car needs alittle more time to adjust

 

350 doesn't appear to have these problems.

 

When pulling on to the main road in front of where I work there is a slight bump upwards from the parking lot to road from where the road was re-paved a few years ago. It's a busy two lane road and I have to usually make a sharp 90 degree turn and then accelerate quickly when pulling out. When in automatic shift mode my 250 wants to shift from 1st to 2nd just as I am rising up on the bump and pushing the gas down. The car hesitates to take off. I have to mash the gas to the floor and then the transmission computer takes a second for it to realize it should shift back down to 1st. It's annoying more than anything. The only way I have found around this problem it to put the transmission into manual shift mode and keep it in 1st gear. Then I look like I am trying to drag race out of the company parking lot.

 

I don't have this problem even when I drive 99% city 1% highway...

 

Up or downshift? Are you going up a hill? Down a hill? What RPM is the motor at when the shift happens?

 

Slow speeds........sub 45 and usually after a steady speed for 8-10 seconds on level road. Then it thumps into a higher gear out of the blue.

Now that Jimmer mentioned it, that kinda sounds like something I have been experiencing as well.

 

The issues are similar. You're at the threshold for a gear change as far as your ECU is concerned. So when it decides to make the shift, it's right at the should/shouldn't line. One of the reasons I've always preferred manuals. Curse my knees.

 

Completely off topic... When I read the thread title my first thought was "is it tranny season already?"

 

Weather nice here in SoCal and the trannys are coming out.....you bet the season is starting. There's still a little winter coat on them, but that will be shed closer to summer when they are ready for a little hard driving.