I had noticed after the first freezing day a couple weeks ago that my car has began a slight (half a second) delay when shifting up to the next gear (automatic). It doesn’t jolt or lurch forward, but I can feel the slight delay. This is of course when the car is both cold and warmed up. The RPM drop is just under 1000 when it shifts to the next.
I have checked the fluid, its in good condition, the right levels, no shavings in the pan, nothing Still does it. Mechanic checked it out too, said its all fine and nothing to worry about. No slipping, hesitating, nothing else. Everything else is in great shape as per the mechanic. Says that some older tranmissions can behave this way when its cold due to wear. I’m still curious
My question is this; is this simple wear (the transmission has about 120K on it) over time? Does the cold, whether or not the transmission is warmed up properly have some effect on it?
I have looked up more online but its all know-nothing answers, thought i’d give it a shot here. What could it be? Is it just my imagination, is this normal? The shifting is seamless (nanosecond) when at higher speed (or in general in the warmer months). Seems to be mostly between gears 1 and 2
WAG: the transmission fluid is cold and thick causing hesitation. Or maybe if gears are cold and contracted on top of being worn, they’re not meshing quite as tightly as when they warm up.
But those are guesses. Also, as for it just being from 1-2. Any parts that are in contact while in 1st gear, 2nd gear or moving between the two are going to be more worn our than the rest of the gears. They’d be getting the most use, I’d think.
Those are really good guesses, that makes a lot of sense. Its just odd that it stays that way even after driving for a couple of hours, I’d think the tranmission would be warm enough by then, but that leaves worn gears too. There is no way they are not worn after 120K miles. Thanks! I’m not so worried about the car, more as to why this is happening, you know?
Northern Piper, I did that recently too. I’d rather not deal with a frozen reservoir, Winter blend it is.
Any more ideas are welcome to sate my curiosity. Thanks!
Also says Joey who’s going to make the next employee that leaves the LP forklift outside push it in on his own.*
FTR, my standard car shifts a bit odd when it’s really cold out as well. On days when it gets down to 10ish, it’s physically harder to move the stick and sometimes it feels like it’s slipping a bit.
*Fun fact, propane engines need to have the propane heated in order to work, but they can’t heat it if they’re not running and you can’t get them running if it’s cold out. We’ve had LP engines for long enough, you’d think there’d be an easier workaround than ‘wait a little while and try again before you kill the battery’.
I’m fairly OCD when it comes to auto trannys. Had quite a few, new and old. Always notice differences in them concerning cold weather vs warm. What you describe sounds normal for a relatively old, yet healthy transmission. I wouldn’t worry too much.
However older transmission “quirks” due to ambient temperature variations usually disappear when the tranny warms up. YMMV, it has for me.
I was going to chalk it up to OCD given my proclivity for it, but its happened last year too. I had a check engine light come on one day when it was really cold and the car was sitting for about 24 hours outside of a garage (its not used to that) and then I started noticing that, pulled the code and it was the standard P0420 (Catalytic Converter) that it always gets (its an erroneous error code, but thats a different story). It is definitely a noticeable difference from the summer months, but not so much that anyone else would notice, I suppose I am really in touch with how the car feels and functions).
Using the shifter is unbelievably smooth, always has been, that gets it into gear immediately, seemingly with no delay. It just seems that is only when I am accelerating and it makes the jump from 1 - 2 that there is a half second delay… its very odd. Most probably wouldn’t notice. I just like knowing why things do… things, I suppose. Cold sucks. Its an 02 Chevy Cavalier Z24 Coupe, its old, but pretty reliable for the most part. But it’s age/model definitely rules out it having some type of “limp” mode when its too cold, which is the answer some have given me. Didn’t make sense anyway.
Thanks for the replies
As for the forklift, that doesn’t make any sense to have such a big loophole in how it would work, there should be some type of heating element (as **gogogophers ** said) or something by this day and age being standard equipment on them.
It’s the vaporizer that needs to be warmed and it’s my understanding that it just needs some coolant flowing through to get it warm enough. I’ve heard of people pulling a vacuum line and sucking on it to get it moving. IIRC my forklift guy mentioned putting a heat gun (like a blow dryer) on it. One thought I had was to get a momentary switch and a small inline pump that you could hit to start run coolant thought it for a few seconds and see if that helps. And remember the cars that had heated wiper fluid, I could install that system to really get it going. But then my guys would probably find a way to run down the battery a few times a day and it’s a PITA to jump start and I don’t feel like dropping in a deep cycle battery.
I missed that you said it still does it after it warms up so that likely rules out, uh, something. Did it happen last winter or did it just start recently. IOW, are you sure it’s related to the cold or is it just a regular problem that just happened to start when it got cold out?
Did you mention the Year/Make/Model? I ask because I know some cars watch the coolant temp and while it’s below a certain level they’ll shift later, causing the car to rev higher before shifting so the engine comes up to operating temp faster. If you don’t know it does it, it’s an odd feeling. It doesn’t sound like the case with yours (unless your t-stat or temp sensor is broken) but I wanted to toss it out there.
The fuel system includes the vaporizer. Our guy merely refers to it as a carb heater… The end result is the same. It is actuated until engine (coolant) temperature is sufficient to support vaporizer requirements.
Try pouring a capful of acetone in the ATF filler tube: the solvent will cut through whatever gum and varnish is gumming up the works and will evaporate without residue when the tranny warms up.
My Subaru shifts really hard from 2-3 when it’s cold but this is a known issue with this transmission. OP, It sounds like the band is slipping with age, and unless it gets really jerky it’s probably not worth the cost of having a rebuild done at this point. If you aren’t familiar with how the magic works more or less in an automatic tranny here is an interestingtutorial.
Joey, you can always get an inline electric circulation heater and plumb it in. A half hour or so and your forklift is nice and toasty and start-able.
Joey_P It’s an 02 Cavalier Z24 Coupe… not even close to a high end model back when mfg’d so I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have any of those nice features lol.
Enola_Straight and swampspruce… thanks for the tips Never heard of the acetone thing, a little hesitant to try it, but just may if I can figure it out. I suppose I should just listen to my mechanic friend who tells me its normal too for an older transmission (he’s been working on cars his entire life). Can’t help but be curious though.
I am going to re-check everything, again. If that doesn’t solve it, either I will get creative or just let it be and plan for a new car in the near future.
I was out and about today in -26 C and noticed the same issue as in the OP: transmission was a bit hesitant shifting up and down for the first ten minutes or so, but then it went away as I drove around more (8 year old Honda CRV).