I seem to have fixed my rough aggressive shifting transmission

[mtnryder56]

Like many here I had been having issues with my transmission shifting rough and searching while driving it first thing in the morning. I blew my transmission on my last 18 SCREW 3.5 EB at 130k miles so i was very worried.

I brought it in to the dealer and they reset the transmission and updated some of the software. During that same time, by buddy was giving me crap for not setting the parking brake when parked. And a coworker was giving me crap for not letting the truck warmup before driving.

I have been religiously setting the parking brake and letting the truck completely warmup each morning for about 6 months and the transmission is behaving correctly, or at least as I expect it to.

Just want to pass on my albeit inconclusive evidence. But it does seem that the transmission is extra sensitive to warming up.

Best of luck all

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[Snakebitten]

Nothing controversial about claiming that your 10r80 shifts far better at normal operating temperatures.

On a Powerboost, it can take a long time to get that beast up in temperature too!
Folks that have short commutes,.... say less than 15 miles?
They might never experience their 10r80 at its designed best. Literally.

 

[12Lariat21]

Yeah, I don't like how it shifts first part of my drive, that 1 to 3 (skips 2nd) is annoying but haven't had any other issues. Once I'm up over 100F the transmissions seem more inclined to hit every gear, and does so smooth and nice like.

Also living in MN (cold weather) with Max tow (extra cooling) and my 25 mile commute, I still never get my transmission up to temp, most I see in winter is 180F, I thought I read on here somewhere the transmission thermostat doesn't even open until 205F or something....so yeah

 

[Popplemer]

I only have about a 3.5 mile commute and I find my truck shifts just fine. I do remote start it every morning when it's cold though.

 

[mtnryder56]

Yeah the remote start is how I warm it up. Right before I make the kids lunches and brew some coffee, just hit the remote start and by the time that is done, it has been good to go. I live on a hill so the very beginning of every morning is up a steep 35mph road. I think the warmup is helping it with that too

 

[WhiteLightningnshitshadow]

So is running it cold doing damage? Unless it's the weekend, I rarely go more than 5 miles. Letting it sit in the driveway neither warms the engine nor transmission.

I agree with the parking brake. My driveway is 5 degree incline and if I don't use the parking brake, the trans very loudly shifts out of park like it's not happy.

Edit: it was high 20s this morning and the 4th to 3rd shift when coming to a stop felt like I was rear ended. The transmission had a few more clunky shifts throughout the 150 mile round trip, but felt great on the way to the gym tonight. I was told you can leave it disconnected from the battery overnight and that would reset the tables. The clunks are very intermittent, but pretty rough. Do I keep letting it "learn" or try the battery trick?

 

[Murrk847]

I fail to see how the parking break would improve anything.

Clearing the tranny tables and having a warm tranny probably was the trick.

Idling your truck under 1k rpm is not ideal. Excessive idling is what gums up the timing system over time.

I have noticed that once the engine reaches operation temps (Maybe 3-5 minutes of driving) it will warm up the transmission fluid if I am not full blasting the heat during the winter. I think it was in the teens and the transmission temp needle did not move for almost my entire 30 minute commute. Next day I didnt blast the heat and it was warmed up within the first 15 minutes. Guess the thermostat prioritizes cab heat over transmission?

 

[mtnryder56]

I think the lesson is that this Tranny is a weak little B and if you don’t treat it like the Prom Queen it throws a fit!

Parking brake is maybe an unrelated but still separate impact on the life of the tranny.

either way just passing on my experience to others in this group!

YMMV

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