Pete7874

This is an automatic transmission. Sometimes I noticed that when in the so called "manual" mode, pushing the stick the first time will do nothing, but pushing it the second time will cause the trans to drop or go up by 2 gears at once.

Example, I'm driving and already in the manual mode in the 4th gear. The display shows D4. I push the stick to the left, and nothing happens. I push the stick to the left again, and the car drops two gears, and the display shows D2.

Same thing can happen when going up in gears. Say I'm in D4. I push the stick to the right and nothing happens. I push the stick to the right again, and the car jumps directly to D6.

Anyone had this happen?

The car just had its transmission replaced, so I'm wondering if the dealer didn't put it together right. It never used to do this before the trans replacement.

Glyn M Ruck

Likely dirty micro switches in the shifter. I would throw it straight back at the dealer. This is not normal. One push however can cause a multigear down or up change.

Pete7874

Wife also discovered that the main COMMAND scroll wheel doesn't work anymore. They've definitely messed something up. She'll be taking the car back to the dealer.

Richard2011

Is there like a guide somewhere on how to use this? I don't use it much, because I can't figure out how. For example, when I'm driving, I'll shift at, say, 3K RPM, but it doesn't actually shift until like 5K! Makes no sense.

Pete7874

Well, in our cars it is not a pure manual mode. All you're doing is telling the trans the highest gear that you want it to not go above. So, you can't really use this to force the car to upshift. Say if you've selected D5, but are mashing the gas pedal in order to accelerate quickly, the trans will still downshift below 5th gear on its own because it can accelerate faster in these lower gears. However, by keeping it in D5 you will prevent the trans from shifting into 6th or 7th gear. I think the owner's manual explains this fairly well.

So, in simple terms:

D = allow the trans to use gears 1-7
D6 = allow the trans to use gears 1-6 only
D5 = allow the trans to use gears 1-5 only
D4 = allow the trans to use gears 1-4 only
D3 = allow the trans to use gears 1-3 only
D2 = allow the trans to use gears 1-2 only
D1 = allow the trans to use gear 1 only


Now of course, if you happen to continue accelerating in a lower gear and you run out of RPMs, the trans will still shift to the next gear anyway in order to prevent engine damage.

Pete7874

By the way, I found this page in the owner's manual...

Richard2011

Your explanation makes perfect sense! Thank you! So with D1-3, what exactly is the breaking effect of the engine?

Pete7874

I think you meant 'braking' and not 'breaking'.

Engine braking is when you take your foot off the accelerator and the car slows down fairly quickly without you having to use the brakes. This is achieved by keeping the car in low gear and thus higher rpm range. It becomes useful when driving in the mountains, for example, when on a long downhill ride where you constantly need to brake to avoid gaining too much speed. If you don't use engine braking but only keep your foot on the brakes, there is a risk the brakes will overheat and fail. Engine braking helps slow the car down a bit so that you don't have to ride your brakes so hard in such situations.

You can try it to see what it feels like even on flat surface. Put it in D3, then accelerate to where your RPMs level at around 4K or higher, and then take your foot off the accelerator and observe how quickly the car is slowing down on its own without you having to use your brakes.

Richard2011

Braking. lol. That's one of my most common typos for some reason.

Oh. It all makes sense now. I'll definitely try it now that I'm comfortable with how it works. Thanks.