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Car started shifting hard between first and second...

aphex

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
It did this once or twice about 6 months ago, now its doing it quite regularly, at least a few times a day... Its usually more noticeable right after i start driving the car...

When shifting from first to second (its an automatic), second gear dosent seem to grab, then with a clunk, the car lurches forward when second gear engages, usually 1/2 a second or so... I don't notice it with any other gear change.

Sometimes its louder than others, but its still very noticeable...

Any ideas? Its a 2005 Mazda3s with 60k miles. First chance I'll have to bring it in is Tuesday morning...
 
My 1984 Dodge Caravan started doing that after 192000 miles in 2000. I dunno what the problem was, but it was too expensive too fix, so we just donated it to charity.
 
Originally posted by: Aimster
transmission failure

I would change the transmission oil. that is pretty much all u can do.
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yikes, seriously? that dosen't sound good...
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Originally posted by: aphex
any idea how much a new tranny would run?
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I have no idea, but you need a new automatic gearbox. Let's keep this on topic.
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What? When you have transmission failure you need a new automatic gearbox?
 
Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
Should have gotten the manual. 😉
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Yah, actually I tried but the combo of options I wanted was near impossible to find in a manual...
 
Originally posted by: aphex
It did this once or twice about 6 months ago, now its doing it quite regularly, at least a few times a day... Its usually more noticeable right after i start driving the car...

When shifting from first to second (its an automatic), second gear dosent seem to grab, then with a clunk, the car lurches forward when second gear engages, usually 1/2 a second or so... I don't notice it with any other gear change.

Sometimes its louder than others, but its still very noticeable...

Any ideas? Its a 2005 Mazda3s with 60k miles. First chance I'll have to bring it in is Tuesday morning...
Click to expand...

sounds like what i did to my old sentra automatic.

i accidently drove 20miles at 60mph on 2nd gear. (i accidently went past 'D' into '2' gear)

since then it was a harsh shift from 1st to 2nd. drove another 100k miles w/o a problem.
 
It can run anywhere from 2-4k.
Some cars they run as high as 7k, but I don't think that is going to be the case here.

I say 2.5k just by guessing. Including labor.
 
Originally posted by: Aimster
It can run anywhere from 2-4k.
Some cars they run as high as 7k, but I don't think that is going to be the case here.

I say 2.5k just by guessing. Including labor.
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Jebus, lovely.... Any chance i could trade it in before it totally blows?
 
My 03 Chevy Impala was doing the same thing with 89k. The tech took the pan off and found pieces of the transmission attached to a magnet in the bottom of the pan. Thankfully my car was still well under warranty. The best news was that my warranty company doesn't even deal with rebuilding them. They shipped up a manufactured transmission from Omaha. Been running great since.
 
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Is that still under warranty?
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4 years, 50k miles 🙁
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Dang, that's tough.

Any chance i could trade it in before it totally blows?

Wouldn't hurt to try, maybe they'll take it. If you have a Carmax in your area, give them a try, they give pretty nice prices to people in hopes that you'll come back to them in the future.
 
The only question I might ask you, OP, is whether you've ever had the transmission serviced? Most manufacturers tell you to do so at ~30K miles. This basically involves having a mechanic drop the pan, replace the filter, pull the chunks of metal off the magnet (it's normal to have some, as the transmission gets broken in), put the pan back on, and refill the transmission with new fluid. If you haven't had this done, it's highly likely that your filter is getting pretty clogged up right now, which is causing the transmission to not get the fluid pressure that it needs when shifting.......thus causing the hard shift. All that junk the magnet didn't catch during the transmission break-in period was caught by the filter, and that's why they tell you to do it during the early part of a transmission's lifetime. Once it's done, you're normally good to go, until you hit 100K miles. 🙂

If, however, you did have it serviced, you basically have 3 choices. One, live with it til it breaks. Two, get it fixed. Three, trade it in. However, a 2 year old car with 60K miles on it is way over mileage, so that's going to hurt you. Talk to some buddies, then talk to your dad and some of his buddies, and I bet you can find a good quality garage that won't rape you on the cost of rebuilding an automatic. Definitely, stay away from places like AAMCO, unless it's recommended by someone you trust. They make their money on the warranty, and it's shocking how quickly the price of a rebuild goes up at that place!!
 
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