I have been playing around with the shifter and different shift points etc. I came to the conclusion it rarely does anything the same twice. Sometimes it falls right on its face then takes off. If at 40 ish mph and I quickly shift down to 1st while punching the gas, it gets confused and over revs like in neutral then slams into a gear, then falls on its face. It's horrible. So far no matter how I shift or let itself shift, it will not go over 5500 in 1st. I have 1000 miles on the motor, so by todays terms it is basically broken in. Most of my "races" are 0-70 so that is all I am concerned with as far as shifting. I found it is best to leave in 3rd, ESP off, rev to 2000 and ease out then gun it, let it shift when it wants to, and it wants to at 5400 in 1st, 5600 in 2nd... Any suggestions? thanks!

 

With 5,000 miles on my RT, I find it best to leave the car in drive and just floor it. I agree that the tranny will shift when it wants to, so I leave it alone. I do on occasion shift into 1st gear at a stoplight and run the gears manually, but not too often.

If you are driving in the mountains (which I would love to try) I imagine it would be more fun to shift manually.

My 96' Chevy Impala SS with 3:73 rear gears, high stall torque converter and a shift kit in the tranny - was a blast to drive in the mountains.

Bob

 

I've noticed that this motor like some RPM to start with, if I'm 'playing', I bring it down one, maybe two gears and let it decide after that,

For quick starts and a decent burnout, I start in '1' with ESP off, bring up enough RPM to tension everything and then hammer it - and let it decide where/when to shift. Caught myself once thinking I was in the MontoCarloSS and tried to 'bump' the shifter up a gear - can you say 'Oops!" :-) That's when I decided to leave it alone and let it do the shifting.

We are headed to Cherokee next week, time for some mountain fun!

Mike

 

From the guys I know with RTs, they dont really come alive until after about 3000 miles. Mine has almost 5,000 and it feels like its gained 100 hp from when i picked it up. For stop lite street racing, I just put it in first and leave it there and floor it. It will still shift just before redline on its own into each gear. I have even gotten 2nd gear rubber doing that. Pretty impressive for an automatic. Manual shifting doesnt seem to do much for me, seems theres a real lag between moving the shifter and it actually going into that gear to me.

 

OK, maybe it's just mine but:

Since new it will not hit red line, not with me leaving it in 1st, leaving it in drive etc. I now have 2888 miles on it. It NEVER shifts higher then 5400 rpm. Also, when cold or even freshly warmed up, when it shifts to 2nd it falls flat then goes like hell again. It sounds just like a double clutch shift with a 5 speed manual. No one has mentioned any similar issues on any of the forums I have been reading. Anyone with an idea? Do I need the computer reflashed or something?
Thanks for any help.
BTW-mine will not spin tires either.
I use 91 octane fuel.

 

The place where we buy our gas sells only two octanes...87 and 93.
I was being nice to the car, ran only the higher octane...
couldn't get much in the lower end performance, cruddy takeoffs, shifted slowly, and at odd times.
Over 50, it ran like lightning! Under 50, my old MGB would give it a hard time!

Called my service manager, who owns a Hemi Magnum...his suggestion was to run the lower octane.
Two tanks later, I have to be careful taking off from lights, even with the tranny in D and the ESP on, it will bust lose the rear if you get too excited.
ESP off, and in Autostick 1, it will pretty much smoke em till you let off.

At lights, if you do what was mentioned in an above post, Autostick 1,keep on the brakes, and just enough throttle to keep the car in tension, then let it roll a few feet before standing on the gas, it will shift itself around 5700...have yet to be able to let it shift all the way through, I run out of road to fast!

You might try a few tanks of the 89 octane gas, thats what the car was designed to use, and from what I have read here, and on a few other forums, it seems to perform better with that octane than the higher rated stuff.

Keep in mind the "computer" on board remembers how the car was driven last, so before you go hunting ricers with fartmaster mufflers, (there should be a bounty on them)you might want to find a parking lot and do a few solo runs, to let the car know what you are wanting.
I know, sounds silly, teaching your car to how run, but it works.

Ed

 

I was told that the on board computer is programed to limit revs for the first few thousand miles purposly to keep from blowing them up during break in. Prevents us blowing them up prematurely and getting the new engine a bad reputation. As it gets well broken in, the program slowly modifies itself until you get to max power and rpm limits. Mine would barely turn the tires, now it does accidently with ease. One of the techs here on the forum says the tranny programs itself on how you drive and modifies itself as you change driving habits. Since you have almost 3000 miles (about the time mine started picking up) you should be starting to get more noticable power. Since all computers are not absolutely equal, yours might just be a little late. Ive got 5000 miles now and still note there are improvements over more time. I use regular 89 oct.

 

I pose this question for a hopefully thoughtful response. Looking at the published HP/Torgue curves, max HP and Torque occur around 5200 RPM and then falls off rapidly after that. Therefore, why would you want to let the engine rev much beyond that? It would seem that the Tach redline is just a mark on the Tach and that the computer will not ever let you get there. Would it not be better to let the engine stay in the meat of the performance curve rather than trying to shift at the max RPM that you can get? Perhaps shifting with the stick at about 5200?

 

My concern is that mine won't do what everyone else's does. Also mine has that weird 1st to 2nd shift lay down, unless warmed up like 20 minutes. It really sounds like a double clutching shift. Like: WaaaaaAAAAAAAA, ump, WaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

joe, mine does the same. sounds and feels as if the tranny is slipping, which in all reallity i belive that it is.