# Transmission is acting up again, this time I got it on video.



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Shift flare! Yay!


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

jblackburn said:


> Shift flare! Yay!


Not good, right?


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

sparkman said:


> Not good, right?


Could be caused by incorrect fluid level. Apparently the fill procedure is reasonably complicated because these transmissions don't get real warm on their own.

Could be because GM trans. I had an Equinox loaner with 8000 miles on it that did the same from 2-3. Piece of junk.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

jblackburn said:


> Could be because GM trans. I had an Equinox loaner with 8000 miles on it that did the same from 2-3. Piece of junk.


My 2012 cruze almost always shifted 3-4 like the OP video and the trans was still fine at 100,000 miles. Now if you guys think this is bad, you should have seen my 1-2 shift when the trans was cold and below 30F outside, it would start to shift normally decide to abruptly downshift for a split second then immediately shift back up into the proper gear. I could stop this bad behavior though by idling the car 1 minute minimum when cold outside. 

The same trans in my 2015 Sonic with 37K now is very smooth at light throttle and firm/precise at higher throttle. Its amazing how much better it is, I use manual mode allot less now.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

spacedout said:


> My 2012 cruze almost always shifted 3-4 like the OP video and the trans was still fine at 100,000 miles. Now if you guys think this is bad, you should have seen my 1-2 shift when the trans was cold and below 30F outside, it would start to shift normally decide to abruptly downshift for a split second then immediately shift back up into the proper gear. I could stop this bad behavior though by idling the car 1 minute minimum when cold outside.
> 
> The same trans in my 2015 Sonic with 37K now is very smooth at light throttle and firm/precise at higher throttle. Its amazing how much better it is, I use manual mode allot less now.


Interesting - haven't experienced that one in loaners I've had. Pretty sure something was wrong with the 'Nox though - it revved up and slammed into 3rd with a pretty significant thud that I hadn't felt in others.

I'm glad they ironed out the programming completely before releasing the 2nd gen, then. It needed a LOT of work in the 2011-2015 model years.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

spacedout said:


> My 2012 cruze almost always shifted 3-4 like the OP video and the trans was still fine at 100,000 miles. Now if you guys think this is bad, you should have seen my 1-2 shift when the trans was cold and below 30F outside, it would start to shift normally decide to abruptly downshift for a split second then immediately shift back up into the proper gear. I could stop this bad behavior though by idling the car 1 minute minimum when cold outside.
> 
> The same trans in my 2015 Sonic with 37K now is very smooth at light throttle and firm/precise at higher throttle. Its amazing how much better it is, I use manual mode allot less now.


Good to hear that it didn't fail. 

What's ridiculous is that we shouldn't have to deal with this BS. I had a 98 Grand Am and 01 Blazer (that were paid off) and those things had no problems shifting whatsoever, then this Cruze (which I'm making payments on) has all these issues. You guys understand why I'm a little frustrated now?

spacedout, did you just deem your car's poor shifting as "normal" and didn't do anything about it (other than the 1 min idle trick)?


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

sparkman said:


> spacedout, did you just deem your car's poor shifting as "normal" and didn't do anything about it (other than the 1 min idle trick)?


I had my cruze 4 years and 100,000 miles, The behavior of the transmission never changed over that period, it was predictably clunky with sometimes poor shifting like your video. I did have the transmission fluid changed at 70K and topped off again at 90K when I had a leaking trans cooler line replaced. Unfortunately I did just accept this behavior as normal for my model year cruze automatic since every 2012 I've drove was similar. 

The idle trick was only necessary with my cruze when cold outside on cold startup, if the car had been driven within a few hours it was also fine. My guess the fluid GM uses must not tolerate the cold and thickened up when below freezing.


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## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

You're a lot like me, I stress over every single thing I deem to be "out of the ordinary" but you may need to train yourself to ignore every little hiccup/weird oddity. As long as the car isn't throwing check engine codes and still runs and drives, just ignore everything else. I know it sucks but getting angry/stressed just shortens your life span. 

Have you ever thought about picking up smoking? Lol


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

The good news about a flare is that it's not like slipping. A flare is more like the car revving up in neutral in between gears. Might be slightly harder on the clutches, but probably not catastrophic. Either way, if you're under 100K I'd get it to the dealer and duplicate. You may get a new transmission for free, with updated parts/programming.


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## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

diesel said:


> The good news about a flare is that it's not like slipping. A flare is more like the car revving up in neutral in between gears. Might be slightly harder on the clutches, but probably not catastrophic.  Either way, if you're under 100K I'd get it to the dealer and duplicate. You may get a new transmission for free, with updated parts/programming.


IIRC OP is already on his second transmission.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

^^Yup.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Wow! Didn't realize. It still doesn't change my suggestion though.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

Got it in today and they think it's a hydraulic leak in one of the pistons in my transmission.

Hopefully they get it figured out.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

Forgot to update this thread and couldn't have been a more perfect time because it's doing it again, worse.

Came out of work today and it did it, BAD. Caught it on dash-cam, I know the date is wrong...

If you pay attention to the hood, you can see it nosedive hard. That's how aggressive the shift was. Later on my way home in the commute, I passed someone going 38 in a 50. When I hit the gas about 70% to get around the dude, I swear to gosh it was misfiring. Dash-cam footage was useless because I had the radio on.

It "misfired" exactly 4 times getting around him, I don't know why it's not throwing a CEL UNLESS it is the transmission slipping? 






Their fix to the problem before was a new transmission control module. That seemed to have fixed it but now I think it is something internal and it is pissing me off.


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