Normal 10 speed automatic behavior (quirks)?

[mustang123]

Hi friends! I've been driving my GT 10 speed for over half a year now. It's been great. However, just want to confirm a few behaviors (quirks) of the automatic transmission, make sure it's not just my car that does these weird things.

Normal mode:
Everything is normal, although the car is pretty eager to shift to higher gears even at low speed. I've seen it shifting into 10th gear when going like 45 mph. Smooth shifts.

S, S+, Track mode:
2-3 shift very rough, almost feels like I got rear ended. 4-5 shift also pretty rough, but not as bad as 2-3. However, the rough shifts are not as noticeable if I'm press hard on the accelerator. If I floor the gas while shifting from 2 to 3, it's not rough at all. The shift is only rough when I do it while not giving it a lot of gas.

S, S+, Track mode (paddle shift):
Taking off in 1st gear, after pulling the upshift paddle, it takes forever (1-3 seconds) for the transmission to shift into 2nd. Even moderately pressing the gas paddle, the transmission won't shift from 1 to 2 until I'm almost at 5000 rpm. Pretty annoying.

Down shifting from 3 to 2 sometimes takes a while (1 second ish).

If I want to drop 4 gears at a time, I quickly pull the downshift paddle 4 times, but the transmission sometimes would issue two separate shift commands, like it would drop 2 gears and another 2 gears.

Drag mode:
Chirps the tires on every shift.

All modes:
Very occasionally I would take off from a stop in D, giving the car gas and the car would just sit there and rev, almost like it's in neutral for like a second. Then it engages drive and starts to go forward. Everything would be normal after that. This has only happened to me twice since I owned the car.

When the car is still cold, the idle rpm is kind of high. If I shift into D and just creep around parking lot, sometimes the car would increase throttle and speed up on its own for 1 to 2 seconds, then slow down. Not sure what's going on, almost like the transmission is shifting into another gear and shifting back.

It takes a couple of seconds to engage D from R. I scared myself the first time when I was backing up on a hill, trying to park in tight space. When I went from R to D and let go of the brake, the car started to slide backwards for a bit.

Do you guys agree with the behaviors I just described?

Final question: do you guys like to drive in paddle shift mode? Aside from the 1-2 slow shift from the start, the paddle mode has been quite fun. The shifts are mostly quick and responsive. When I first drove the car around mountains, I put it in auto mode, and the car would get pretty confused with what gear it wants to be in (the downshifts when I brake at corners make pretty sweet sounds tho). With so many gears, I feel like it's constantly shifting. I only use auto mode when I'm feeling lazy or around parking lots (the rough shifts scare me in parking lots!). Otherwise I use the paddles. What are your thoughts?

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[showbbq]

I noticed the transmission was rough until the dealer did some type of update. Shifting from R to D would cause the car to jerk. When I described this to the service manager, he said "I like that because it lets me know I'm driving a powerful car".

After the update, going from R to D is smooth as butter now. In S+ the shifts are supposed to be aggressive but you should let the car come up to temp.

 

[wade001]

have you ever told the dealer about these issues? and if you have, have they tried to troubleshoot it? what did they do?

i think you might be low on transmission fluid, i had some of the issues you describe, i still have a very rough shift in S or S+ from 4->5, sometimes, and a rough shift into R from D, but only can get it to happen when at work in the parking lot, no where else.

i had experienced the 'no shift' conditions you have. when shifting to reverse, there was nothing there for a couple seconds. but after i took mine in for the dealer to check the transmission fluid level, in which they found it to be about 1/2 qt low, i have not experienced any more 'no shift' conditions.

its funny you mention drag mode chirping your tires each shift. if i want smooth effortless shifting, i put it in drag mode. of all the drive modes available, that has to be the smoothest, easiest mode for my transmission. it responds well, the logic seems to work well, almost never is in the wrong gear, and you can barley feel it shift. and it has this ever so slight exhaust burble when slowing down that is sounds really nice in traffic.

i hardly ever drive in S+ mode, with transmission in D or S because it acts as you describe. doesnt shift until 4-5k rpm usually. in addition, shifts are usually too firm for me, down shifts are really jerky and lots of engine braking, and the burble is much louder.. its WAY to aggressive for me to use in any kind of daily driving scenario for sure. i'd only really use S+ if i was on a track or something. i feel, like i have to be into the gas way to much for it to shift smoothly.

i purchased my car new, 2 months ago though, and i took it in 2 weeks after i purchased it for them to check the fluid. i dont have a whole lot of experience with this transmission. and it does constantly shift, but that is, im pretty sure, by design. i think i am going to head back to the dealer, soon(ish), depending on this whole covid-19 thing to have them do a transmission reset/relearn/update/etc.. basically have them put it back to brand new, so it has to relearn everything with me (and not learn from test drivers, and salesmen hod-rodding it around the parking lot).

i think you should probably head back and mention this to them at the dealership. have them check the fluid level and perhaps do a relearn if you wanted.

also check out this thread: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...hift-conditions-facts-and-resolutions.135463/ seems like quite a few have had their transmission come low on fluid from the factory. like i mentioned, i was one, not real low, but low none-the-less.

 

[speedup]

My 2019 a10 does some strange stuff, lots of jerky shifts, the whinning noise it makes worries me - plus, I have 3.55 gears, so 1st gear is just about useless

 

[2018GT]

I had a lot of jerky shifting etc until I took it to the dealer. They put in the 2 quarts of fluid that it needed. Low fluid Seems to be a common theme with the A10s.

 

[Triton54]

My car did a lot of the same things yours is doing OP, finally took it in, and described it to service writer. Also asked them to CHECK fluid level, ( mine was ok) then they did an update to the latest software, and all is good again!

 

[mustang123]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. The car was a certified preowned, so if they were legit dealer, they would have checked the fluid. I will definitely mention it to the dealer during my next oil change tho. But otherwise the transmission has been fine. Especially in normal mode, hardly know that it's shifting gears, super smooth. And I kind of just got used to the rough shifts for S and track modes, I just accepted it as part of the programming...

 

[Zathras]

My 2018 A10 also has rough shifts in Sport, Sport+, or Track mode, especially at part throttle, but it's not very consistent or predictable. Sometimes I'm expecting a big jerk but it shifts smoothly, other times I get a hard shift unexpectedly. It makes those modes not really usable for city driving. If this is a programming thing I'd sure like some more work done on the tuning to at least make the sport mode a little easier to live with.

Every once in a while, when it's cold, it will kind of drop out of gear briefly when first shifting up though 1-2-3-4.

I should have the dealer look at it, but this is my only car and it's a huge pain to have it in the shop. Especially when the most likely outcome is that they'll say "it's working as designed" (which it may be).

 

[acemastr]

The car will shift much faster and smoother at full throttle, part throttle is slows down the shifts (paddles).

The downshift to 2nd and 1st using the paddles is just plain embarrassing at times, is anyone else's like a kangaroo changing down to 2nd and 1st?

 

[Gregs24]

Every once in a while, when it's cold, it will kind of drop out of gear briefly when first shifting up though 1-2-3-4.

.

This is transmission flare - if you Google it you will see most torque converters do it to some extent when cold intermittently. Don't panic when you read about it and there are tales of impending failure. Some designs do it more than others and it can be a completely normal characteristic.

 

[Osofast]

Had all of the same issues, went to the dealer for a misfire check engine light they did an update to the pcm and it took care of all,the a10 issues

 

[Flimflamman]

All modes:
Very occasionally I would take off from a stop in D, giving the car gas and the car would just sit there and rev, almost like it's in neutral for like a second. Then it engages drive and starts to go forward. Everything would be normal after that. This has only happened to me twice since I owned the car.

I've had my '19 GT for close to 2 months. I've had this happen a couple of times so far. And both times were when I was going up an incline at an angle very slow (parking garage at work, and a hill with a blind spot by my house), and I slow almost to a stop, give it a little gas and the transmission acted as if slipping for a couple of seconds, and grabbed and works fine afterwards. Once when cold leaving the garage, and warm when getting back to the house (26 mile commute).

I actually really enjoy S+ for city driving. The aggressive shifts (doesn't feel like being rear-ended though) and rev-matching are awesome. Half-throttle starts up to 60-80mph are very aggressive and some folks probably think I am trying to race them. LOL

From what I understand, the whining noise is from a pump that uses straight-cut gears. So that is normal.

I wan't to check the fluid level, but it looks like a bitch to do because it needs to be up to operating temp (200+) and it is right next to an exhaust pipe. I don't have a lift either, but can put it on jack stands if need be. And grab an oven mitt out of the kitchen so I don't burn arm.

Otherwise, it doesn't seem like it acts any different from other automatics. If the slipping continues and other things crop up I will not hesitate to take it to the dealership.

 

[mustang123]

The car will shift much faster and smoother at full throttle, part throttle is slows down the shifts (paddles).

The downshift to 2nd and 1st using the paddles is just plain embarrassing at times, is anyone else's like a kangaroo changing down to 2nd and 1st?

Yes that's what I noticed too. Yea I pretty much never downshift from 2 to 1 unless I'm already stopped. Sometimes the car automatically forces a downshift to 1 when I'm approaching a stop, and it always feels like I hit a wall, even if i was going like 2 mph.

All the problems I described: rough shifts, slow shifts and etc. goes away under full throttle... why is that?

 

[cozmo2312]

my car is identical to the OP’s experience. every single thing.

2019, 4700 miles. since day one.

i kinda like it haha

 

[Linkster1666]

I'm all good with the exception of a bad 4to5 shift, in Sport it hits hard, does in every mode, but medium throttle, up hill, through 4 into 5 and bam! Took it in, they said the fluid level was fine. but after that it got better but still happens.

I may get it off the ground to look myself. I do know that they only put in 8 quarts the first oil change.

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