auto - refusing to drop back a gear

[SS_Fury]

Had an AU V8 try to pull away from me today with an obscenely loud exhaust and full of yobos. Normally dont engage in such activities as 'keepies up' but i thought i would 'make sure' the old girl wouldnt be burnt by an AU. Problem was the auto refused to drop down a gear (into second - we were doing about 60 odd in an 80 zone at the time) and sought of laboured trying to catch up in 3rd. Needless to say, by then, it wasnt worth the effort because the AU was gone. Had it dropped back a gear it would have flew i have no doubt, but on occasion, i swear there is a certain speed where if you dump it, the auto doesnt drop back a gear and tries its hardest to go fast in 3rd, which aint fast at all in comparison. Anyone else notice this on stockie auto's? They almost get confused i swear:hmmm:

[chris_vysv8]

Did you WOT? Should definitely drop back to at least second at WOT at that speed. Power mode would help to get a lower gear at partial throttle openings. Of course not always possible to switch to power mode at the spur of the moment. If you're like me and tend to err on the side of caution when planting the foot, I am also regularly disappointed when I expect a huge surge of power but the auto refuses to drop back. Just one of those things I suppose. I don't fancy driving around in power mode all the time either.

[Black_vtss]

Could always manual shift the auto, obviously within reason though.

[SS_Fury]

power was on, no trac either....usually it does drop back a gear, on that odd occasion it refuses to and tries in vain to go fast in a higher gear at low speeds

[VX2VESS]

Had an AU V8 try to pull away from me today with an obscenely loud exhaust and full of yobos. Normally dont engage in such activities as 'keepies up' but i thought i would 'make sure' the old girl wouldnt be burnt by an AU. Problem was the auto refused to drop down a gear (into second - we were doing about 60 odd in an 80 zone at the time) and sought of laboured trying to catch up in 3rd. Needless to say, by then, it wasnt worth the effort because the AU was gone. Had it dropped back a gear it would have flew i have no doubt, but on occasion, i swear there is a certain speed where if you dump it, the auto doesnt drop back a gear and tries its hardest to go fast in 3rd, which aint fast at all in comparison. Anyone else notice this on stockie auto's? They almost get confused i swear:hmmm:
can't remember when it was sludgy, yours been edited at all?

mine drops to 1st at 60 which is a waste really smokes them twice within a sec. 1st spins, 1/2 sec later into 2nd also spinning. need to lower first gear a bit so its only 2nd on change back at 60.

i do notice that won't change at a cetajn speed if the power button is off, power off is the same as my old power on was, power on is now lets go :bounce: doubly as good, a little harsh mid throttle still.

[SS_Fury]

yeah i been chipmaster mailbagged....for the record im presuming the gears are as i stated, but it may be labouring in second when it should go down to first - but i suspect 2nd to be a bit quicker than how it slugged off

it was kinda embarrassing, because a BAxr8 saw the fun and wooshed past me...i had to play dead as if i wasnt trying because the box just wouldnt drop back the gear it needed to (ofcourse all this happened in a matter of seconds).

anyway, its usually fine, i guess its just one of those things....does anyones auto 'hold' for quite a bit when changing down to? if changing down to 1st the box really stalls and then thumps you in gear
even doing 80 and you dump it it has a smallish stall before dropping a gear...now i know this is all normal, but ya ever get that feeling the box should be sharper on the changes? going right through the gears there are no probs and it will happily chirp the wheels doing so....but dropping down a gear has a tendency to a)miss like what happened and labour in a high gear at low speed or b)hold/stall then thrust you in gear, by which time any descent car with a good tranny has got 3/4 of a car length on you already....
or maybe i just need to take the blue pill and get out of the matrix and come back to earth and accept it as not being happy with holdens a4.

[Muzzak]

yeah i been chipmaster mailbagged....for the record im presuming the gears are as i stated, but it may be labouring in second when it should go down to first - but i suspect 2nd to be a bit quicker than how it slugged off

it was kinda embarrassing, because a BAxr8 saw the fun and wooshed past me...i had to play dead as if i wasnt trying because the box just wouldnt drop back the gear it needed to (ofcourse all this happened in a matter of seconds).

anyway, its usually fine, i guess its just one of those things....does anyones auto 'hold' for quite a bit when changing down to? if changing down to 1st the box really stalls and then thumps you in gear
even doing 80 and you dump it it has a smallish stall before dropping a gear...now i know this is all normal, but ya ever get that feeling the box should be sharper on the changes? going right through the gears there are no probs and it will happily chirp the wheels doing so....but dropping down a gear has a tendency to a)miss like what happened and labour in a high gear at low speed or b)hold/stall then thrust you in gear, by which time any descent car with a good tranny has got 3/4 of a car length on you already....
or maybe i just need to take the blue pill and get out of the matrix and come back to earth and accept it as not being happy with holdens a4.

Option b) here. Yes I've been testing my new custom edit. The hold/stall followed by gear occurs at WOT I've noticed if cruising. I'm curious as to why this happens, and what the hell is it's purpose. It most definetly did this with factory tune, and it still happens with the edit tune, although all a bit quicker which makes it better.

Option a) With maintaining current gear - I too have noticed, but I'm leaning towards that a kick down at that point would result in redline with the lower gear - and hence current gear is maintained. However I cannot yet be fully certain.

Cheers,
Muz

Muz

[Muzzak]

Oh yeah, than the other thing that has always irritated me is....

cruising....~70km+....give the throttle a tiny stab and maintain pressure, the revs blip up a touch, then immediately drop back and plateau - the car does actually gain gradual speed at this plateau moment.

Doesn't feel entirely natural...I would expect the stab, and maintain throttle to blip up the revs - and remain there, not drop.

Muz

[grant86]

yeah i been chipmaster mailbagged....for the record im presuming the gears are as i stated, but it may be labouring in second when it should go down to first - but i suspect 2nd to be a bit quicker than how it slugged off

.

Did you have the shifter locked in '2'?
After my chipmaster tune ive noticed if i have the shifter locked in 2 it will not use first gear at all, it will take off using 2nd gear only. If you did then this could be the prob..

[Delco]

The algorithm to kick down a gear takes into account the TPS and MPH so that if the roadspeed is too high it will not allow a kickdown as the engien would redline then upchange causing a slower time , this setting is different for power and economy mode to take into account the desire for more racy performance in power mode.

[chevypower]

could it be as simple as the kickdown switch?

[pacer265]

Oh yeah, than the other thing that has always irritated me is....

cruising....~70km+....give the throttle a tiny stab and maintain pressure, the revs blip up a touch, then immediately drop back and plateau - the car does actually gain gradual speed at this plateau moment.

Doesn't feel entirely natural...I would expect the stab, and maintain throttle to blip up the revs - and remain there, not drop.

Muz

I've always thought this was the torque converter locking up? Its annoying when in 'D' and trying to build up a small amount of speed effortlessly only to have a couple of revs knocked off the engine.

On mine I've noted it happens at 75km/h, would probably prefer it to be at 80km/h.

An example is going from a 70 to an 80 zone, or 70 to 90 zone. You want to accelerate without any fuss, the engine starts to build up speed and then at 75km/h the revs drop...

The CV8Z is still stock, wouldn't mind trying to change it with an edit?

[markone2]

. Problem was the auto refused to drop down a gear (into second - we were doing about 60 odd in an 80 zone at the time) and sought of laboured trying to catch up in 3rd. :

Excellent argument for the benefits of a high stall converter..and diff gears imho ,rest assurred those pesky AU's will never bother you again..period...:dance:

[ITROCS]

I have a stock VXSS series 1 and if I'm doing 70kmh and plant the foot it will easily kick back to 2nd a go like hell and its stock. 1st to 2nd it will spin and off she goes and its stock:dance: Maybe just lucky.

[Holden Nut]

My old mans standard VX SS will kick back to 2nd at WOT right up to about 100-105km/h...seems very unusual what you are saying.

[marcu5]

Dumb question, is "wot" write on traction od something else? Sorry for the cross post but Im trying to keep up to whats being said and make sence of it ;)

[Vulture]

I think if I jump on it at up to about 80-90, she'll use second. Boogies fine, if speed is a bit higher and selects third - embarrassingly slow progress...that'll change soon though...

[Delco]

WOT = Wide open Throttle

The max speed that a kickdown can be initiated also changes with diff gear as the engine will be doing more revs at teh same speed with a diff gear change.

[SLEEPERVX]

Dumb question, is "wot" write on traction od something else? Sorry for the cross post but Im trying to keep up to whats being said and make sence of it ;)

WOT - Wide Open Throttle

[SS_Fury]

yeah, prob time for a set of 3.7's

It is hard to explain and for the most part the car will kickdown...but i swear at a certain speed it would rather try and take off quickly in the already selected gear, rather than drop back - which makes the car embarrasingly slow for an 8.

[marcu5]

Thanks for the info about wot ;)



...but i swear at a certain speed it would rather try and take off quickly in the already selected gear, rather than drop back

Try being in a V6 and this happening lol!! ;) (But I can under stand the annoyance that this would have in an 8)