New 2010 Dodge Challenger, 6 speed manual transmission, from a standing start, sometimes the transmission wants to go from 1st to 4th. Dodge says this is for fuel saving. Crossing a busy street this has created a safety issue because the vehichle is not moving fast enough for 4th gear and dies. Dodge says, nothing they can do. Anybody have any thoughts?

 

Welcome to the site. I am confused about the sifting as you stated it was a manual, not an automatic that would be computer controlled. I will move this thread to the Challenger section as the guys there can help you,
FF

 

That is called skip shift and is designed into the cars systems to do exactly what you heard from Dodge. When the car is at a constant maintained 15 to 20 mph in first gear it will shift itself to fourth gear on its own for economy (screwy for sure). It should not however stall the vehicle. I just picked up an R/T Friday. It is a six speed track Pack car and will pull fourth gear at 20 mph. I haven't experienced this skip shift yet as I don't maintain first gear speeds for long enough, if you know what I mean. If you want to keep this feature active see your dealers service department and explain the problem. I would recommend a demonstration as well to make sure that they witness it stalling first hand.

Or you could, once the car is rolling, just shift to second gear, which it will pull fine after the car is moving. I've forgotten to go to first a couple of times from second and it will still pull away from a dead stop without much effort. Just don't "cruise" in low gear .

If you want to eliminate the skip shift feature altogether there are simple plug in devices from the aftermarket that address skip shift elimination and they are not very expensive. Right now off hand I can't remember the company and exact price but a with a little searching on one of the Challenger forums you will find the product quickly as there are many owners that have installed it with no problems.

 

Thanks for the help. I will do a little research.

I'm finding this skip shift is starting a little less than 10mph. Like you said at 15mph the 4th gear has no problem. I too, have started from 2nd gear with no problem.

Thanks

 

OPERATION
The PCM controls the skip shift solenoid, locking out second and third gear when all of the following conditions are met:

Engine coolant exceeds 41°C (106°F)
Vehicle speed is between 12 and 20 MPH
Engine operating above 1322 RPM
The PCM verified first gear speed/RPM
Throttle position sensor (TPS) signal is less than 0.68 volt above closed throttle (23 percent throttle opening)
The solenoid resets when vehicle speed drops below 3 MPH.
Hope this helps to understand why it shift the way it does.

 

You can either buy a 20$ skip shift eliminator harness , or Diablosport Predator(tuner) which will turn the skip shift off

 

Thanks for the help....

 

I think the Corvette has had this feature for a long time. Kinda defeats the purpose of a "manual" transmission, if you ask me!!

 

I was confused about the manual / automatic hybrid transmission or is it automatic / manual....
FF

 

I think all T56's with the exception of the Viper-spec has the CAGS system. My dad's 95 Z28 had it too...real pain in the ***.