sivikvtec

When the outside temperature is around 80 degrees or less and my car has been sitting for a long time, lets say 4 hours or more, something annoying happens.

When I start driving the car, it will shift into and out of park/reverse/drive just fine. However, once I start going forward the car will hold first gear until around 2600 rpm's and then shift rather hard into second gear. After this happens once, it will not happen again for the entire trip.

I can litterally drive down the street when this is happening and not let the tach get over 2500 rpm and the car will not shift out of gear. The second I let it cross 2600, bam..gear change.

I cannot believe this is a mechanical issue with the trans. Its almost like the ecu is sending it a signal to hold first gear for some reason?!

I have no check engine lights, the transmission fluid is fine (changed about 10k ago). 151k miles.

The car has been doing this consistently for the last 5k miles and intermittantly before that for whole time I have owned it (around 11.5k miles).

Does anyone else have this problem, and if so has anyone found a sucessful fix or explanation of the problem?

lyonkster

Have you checked fluid level and battery voltage? I had a similar problem due to the second, resulting in two unnecessary transmission replacements.

BP_VVt-i

iTrader: (6)

what kind of mods do you have done to your car? I get a similar shift from 1st to 2nd and 3rd depending on how hard I'm driving. Nothing bad or troublesome though. Kinda just the way i drive plus i have an intake and non-restrictive exhaust setup.

y1a2s3h4

iTrader: (1)

something like that happens to me when im cruising at 1600 rpms in first gear for a bit. when it shifts to 2nd it jerks

sivikvtec

car is 100% stock.

sivikvtec

I saw your thread on that when I did a search. I replaced the battery less than 12 months ago.

TLcoats

iTrader: (11)

Nothings wrong with your cars. It does it too everyones. The ecu is simply telling it to hold first gear a little bit longer whenever it's started cold after sitting for a while. Most likely because it helps warm the engine up.

4litre

iTrader: (1)

It does the same thing my 740i Bimmer did. I believe it's normal.

sivikvtec

I'm concerned because the car only used to do it when the temp was 45 degrees out or lower. Now it does it all the time, except one day we had over 80 last week. The frequency of the "problem" has increased, suggesting to me that it is not normal.

AsGs300

not a prob with me, but like TL said, let it sit and warm up, what year is yours? mine is a 99 with over 200k on the spedometer, the only thing that does bug me is when i throw it on D it gives me a small thump grom the rear

check your batt, and start to let your car warm up see what that does

UpstateLex

what would the battery have to do with this?

sivikvtec

Battery is fine. If I let the car sit and warm up for 5 mins, no problem.

1999 GS400, 151k

lyonkster

Not to TJ, but my car had transmission engagement problems whenever the battery got old. Caused the trannies to be replaced two times under warranty, and I almost replaced it a third time, before I fortunately found the root cause (battery).

lexusben

iTrader: (3)

My car does the same thing.

denut-L

iTrader: (11)

I have the same thing happening to mines also, but i love it. Wish it would hold gear all the way till 3k rpm all the time before shifting gears.