Hi Guys,

I purchased a Ralliart 2010 the other day and have realised something with the Transmission.

When i am driving in D normal mode and when i am in 5th gear and wanting to slow down to come to a complete stop, i can sometimes hear the transmission downshift to 4th gear. This only happens sometimes and does not happen when in manual mode or sport mode. This does not even happen when i am in 5th gear and step on the pedal a little to go faster and the gearbox downshifts to 4th by itself.

Only happens when i want to slow down and comes to a complete stop.

Is this normal with these transmissions or should i get it checked out.

Thanks

 

Do you mean it 'clunks' downshifting and that is why you hear it?


Please provide some more detail.

 

Clunking and clicking sounds are normal. So is lurching and bucking.

Imagine if a 9 year old were driving stick shift. That's how my car behaves at low-ish speeds.

 

changing the trans fluid and filter could solve the problem.

 

^true.

 

Hearing or feeling a shift from this transmission is usually nothing to be alarmed about. It can often be irregular, intermittent, and sometimes happens once and then never again.

As hard as it is for many people to hear, the best advice is to monitor the car's behavior, and not so much the noises. It can be annoying and worrisome, to the point where people get rid of the car for fear of problems, but the majority of the time it's just the SST giving you a piece of its mind.

If the car starts behaving differently or it becomes regular and progressively worse, then maybe would be the time to get it looked at.

At the very least, though, since you just bought the car I also would support the recommendation that you change the fluid and filter with new OEM parts, if for nothing more than peace of mind. A few hundred spent in maintenance is much better than a few thousand spent on repairs, imo.

 

Driving in “Normal” mode for these SSTs is a killer.

I reccomend NEVER driving in Normal mode, always Switch to “SPORT” and shift Manually either with paddles or pushing up or down on the shifter.
Drive the car as if it were a full manual that you do not have to “Clutch” yourself. When downshifting and Stop and Go this will save your clutches because in Normal mode it allows more slippage to “make is smoother” like an Auto.
Alot of people drive their Ralliart or ME with the SST in Normal mode and this results in premature failure in the trans causing very costly repairs!!

 

I will also mention that when in “SPORT” the car limits shifting AUTOMATICALY to only when it is needed to prevent damage. Hence why you would use Sport mode on a track like setting. It tightens up the speed of shifting which when driving aggressivly actually makes shifting faster and smoother. Also, when in SPORT you can Manually downshift to help the car slow down faster using the transmission more effectivly, which will save your brakes. If you are slowly coasting to a stop in SPORT it will also Slowly downshift gears for you so when you come to a complete stop, it will be back in 1st.
Manually selecting which gear you should/Want to be in in SPORT mode will “Beep” at you if the car just made that shift for you because you were “Too late” to shift up or like I mentioned, if you are slowly down, or stopping very quickly it will jump down up to 2 gears at a time to be sure you are in the correct gear for how fast you are going and based on speed and if brake is being applied, preventing damage and hard shifting.
When accelerating and shifting thru gears very quickly when in SPORT mode as well it is reccomended you do not lift off the gas and the shifts will be faster and smoother as well, as the computer controller is constantly trying to guess if you are trying to accerate fast, let off the gas to slow a bit (say around a turn) or if you may be starting to slow down and down-shift again.
Hope all this info helps, LOL