Piggy backing this thread.
Apologies for the long read, look for the
(PROBLEM STARTS HERE) part.
Noticed some strange behaviour this winter with regards to the atx and cold weather.
Fortunately/unfortunately, living in a condo right at the intersection of the two largest freeways here in Ontario, the poor atx does not really get up to operating temps until after a few minutes on the freeway. If I am lucky enough to get the 1 green light before jumping on the freeway, the transmission also does not have the opportunity to cycle through the gears a few times. Getting onto the freeway with 2nd gear and eventually getting into 3rd/4th gear.
Luckily, pre-covid, the morning rush hour means that I'm trucking for 2-4 minutes in slow speed (under 40mph) speeds to give the transmission time to warm up in second gear and shift into 3rd/4th gear. I also do weird stuff like keeping the transmission in 1st gear at lower speeds getting out of the complex from P2 to speed up the warming up process.
The rare but "perfect storm" scenario:
1. Start up
2. Exit condo complex and into winter temps (below freezing) in first gear.
3. Straight onto the freeway without coming to a stop and limited to under 40mph speeds due to traffic-- atx still only in 2nd and 3rd gear, no chance for it to come to a stop and cycle through the gears back into 1st gear.
4. After say 5 minutes, freeway opens up, transmission up to operating temps, and engages 3rd/4th gear no issue
5. Come to a future stop on freeway due to traffic, and really only the first opportunity that the transmission is able to shift from 4th gear back through to 1st gear at a stop.
6.
(PROBLEM STARTS HERE) Upon getting back up to speed, the 3rd to 4th gear shift "misses or slips" and it's like the transmission finds a false neutral, and fail to engage 4th gear. While I do not lose drive completely, car will still propel itself forward but only in 2nd or 3rd gear.. memory is failing me at the moment, but it should be in 3rd gear at this point. As you can imagine, 60mph at 3rd gear, the engine is driving to... 4,000rmps roughly?
7. Atx will simply not re-engage 4th gear until I come to a complete stop on the shoulder, cycle from
Drive, to Park, back to Drive. No need to turn the car on/off.
8. After that cycle from "
Drive, to Park, back to Drive", the transmission will operate completely normal for the rest of the drive/day unless I leave it parked for many hours in the cold where the issue will MAYBE reappear.
9. This issue never occurs on city streets, assuming because 4th gear isn't necessary until many minutes and many opportunities for the auto transmission to cycle through the gears.
This issue does not exist if I drive for a few minutes on local roads before hitting the highway nor if I choose to merge on the highway one on-ramp later 5 minutes away, no issues. Sometimes, if I drive in the adjacent shopping mall parking lot for a minute and cycle the transmission a few times from Drive to Park, the issue can be mitigated.
Fluid looks good, fully synthetic. No milky/watery substances to the eye.
This issue has happened once or twice a week, so I'm no longer in shock when it happens and I can reasonably predict when I will need to pull on the shoulder so I'm prepared and driving in the right lane. Frankly, I would not be afraid of driving it cross country since I know how to "live with it".
Vehicle history:
Previous owner had swapped some aftermarket shift solenoids based on receipts and new radiator (separate transactions a year apart, so I hope it wasn't pink milkshake).
Had an issue within the first few months of my possession 3 years ago with the shift solenoids (Transmission sounded like a bag of marbles for an atx, wouldn't move at all at startup). Post #24 onwards in this thread here:
Reasoning about Automatic Transmission issues (P0770)
Transmission shop dropped the transmission pan, nothing alarming found, replaced the transmission filter with a new one, resealed the pan, new synthetic fluid. No issues for 2 years to current other than this issue. Admittedly, I can take the long way out of the neighbourhood and/or hop on the freeway one ramp later to mitigate the issue almost completely.
Linear Mode
