Koz1614

Hey guys,

I posted a month or so ago about my transmission..not sure if it is acting up. A week ago I reset the ECU to unlearn any bad habits. Now I am noticing the car is getting stuck in 5th gear especially on the first drive of the day. When I leave my house I get on a long straight and get up to speed fairly quickly...I noticed that the car never shifts into 6th even doing 50-55mph. I tried to manually put the car into 6th and it will not go..video attached..Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

Noeh

iTrader: (3)

Transmission needs to warm up before shifting to 6th gear. Does it still do it after driving for 10min?

Sasnuke

The ECU will purposely not upshift, so RPM's stay higher, to allow the vehicle to reach operating temperature faster.
The idea is that the vehicle is more fuel efficient when at operating temperature, so it will hold 5th and even going into lockup until it reaches close to operating temperature...it usually doesn't take too long.
I'm guessing you live near the highway/freeway, so you're going fast shortly after leaving home.

E46CT

Just let the car do its thing dude. no need to worry. if there's a fault the car is smart enough to figure it out and let you know.

it's doing whatever it's doing cause the car decide it's correct.

Koz1614

@Sasnuke Im on board with that being the case until it warms up..makes sense. But here was another quick clip with the car fully warmed up..same thing. Unless for some reason it didn't want to shift up due to something the ECU was sensing at that moment (i.e. throttle %, or slight incline)? Im not sure..

Koz1614

this advice sounds like a good idea right about now, i have to say!

Notabot10

So at 47mph I dont think my car shifts to 6th either. What happens when you go at 60mph and operating temperature?

arentz07

Interesting. Mine will go into 6th in the low 40s if I let it. As long as the car can maintain a little over 1400 RPM it seems fine with 6th.

Notabot10

Took these pictures this morning. It goes into 6th gear when hitting 47 but sometimes it varies.

Koz1614

I’m not sure what to think at this point as to whether or not there is an issue. This morning 2 minutes into my drive I was cruising around 45-50 mph and it was in 6th. So I’m just gonna drive it and let the car let me know if anything is wrong as =D

Sasnuke

What happened at the beginning of the video? I saw it go from "D" to "D6"...likely indicating the Upshift paddle was pulled...or the shifter was shifted to the left.
Whichever it was it wasn't in the D mode any longer...

Koz1614

@Sasnuke yes, in the beginning of the video when it goes from D to D6 I am trying to shift up with the paddle shifter. But you’ll notice, on the gear indicator it remains in 5th

arentz07

Using paddle shifters while in "D" drive does not really "shift" anything. It just changes the maximum gear that can be held. By pressing the right paddle while in "D", it is unlikely that anything would happen, unless it was already in D5 or something like that.

Sasnuke

Likely it wasn't ready to shift into 6th, so it didn't.
It would do the same if you tried to downshift to 1st at that same moment...it won't do it either cause something will likely explode.

Like many suggested I think you just need to drive it more and let the vehicle learn your driving pattern.
By the Odo you don't have a tremendous amount of mileage on the vehicle.
As E46CT suggested, if something was going to go wrong, there are many codes in the computer to tell you what it is.

Shifting takes into account so many factors...ambient temp. engine temp., throttle position, load, etc...
And note that the issue is getting to the highest gear...not shifting from 1-2, or 2-3, or 3-4, or even 4-5.
That pretty much tells me that the vehicle hasn't reached all the conditions necessary to upshift into 6th yet.

Sasnuke

Based on the pics I'd say you got another 1/4 inch before the temp gauge reaches full operating temp.