Really? It won't let you manually control the 1-2 shift? My 2003 sedan will let me control the shift. If I short shift the 1-2 at below 5200rpms, the shift speed is almost instantaneous and pretty abrupt, but if I delay the shift to above 5200rpms, the torque management system kicks in and retards the power a bit upon entering 2nd. It's kind of annoying and that is why I'll let the tranny shift itself on the 1-2 at the strip.

My technique (keep in mind the 03 5AT sedan is different) use to be line up and place the shifter in MM and kick it down to "2". With the 03, that means the tranny will shift the 1-2 and then hold 2nd. What I've found recently is that the car is more responsive off the line if you leave it in D. So what I'm doing now is the following:

1) Launch in D and let the tranny do the 1-2.

2) Once the tranny completes the 1-2, I immediately hit the shifter over and tap it down twice so that I can hold 2nd and manually shift the 2-3 at 6400rpms or so.

3) Hold 3rd the entire run.

Yes, your tranny is very unique only to 03 sedans. I cannot shift into second before I begin the run. In manumatic mode you have to manually shift into second from first.

Yeah, I knew that. I thought you were saying you had no manual control over a 1-2 shift.

LOL, this is just too funny to me.

In manual mode the 1-2 shift has to be done manually or else it will bounce all over the limiter.
But what your saying is with your tranny you can set it so that the 1-2 shift can be done automatically while in manual mode? I'm I getting this right?

I believe what he is saying is leave it in D. After it shifts from 1st to 2nd, go into manual mode anytime (before 3rd obviously), and shift it manually.

I'm gonna go do some experimenting and see if the tranny will skill gears on downshift...

I know in DS on the 07+, it can downshift so quickly that it'll SEEM to skip gears...

What's soo hard to believe? Want proof? witnesses?

Just tried the quick double down shift from 80MPH.. The car does skip down from 5th gear to 3rd but on the screen you see it pop into 4th for a split second.

I was being sarcastic. I thought you'd see that in the following sentences I know all about LS1s, the 4L60E, F-Bodies, etc. I've spent way too much time working on them and racing them.

Does jumping from 5th to 3rd damage the tranny? I accidentally did it once on the fwy and it felt like the tranny jerked really hard.. i never did that again cuz it seems like my car didn't like it very much

Here's me manually downshifting from 5th to 3rd



Here's me leaving it in D and just flooring it

Re: your videos.

At the begining, you are clearly doing about 65 mph and maintaining it. As you downshift, you'll notice the RPM creeps up about 150 or so before it swings up for 3rd gear. That small creep is the TC unlocking.

You'll also notice, that when you shift back to 5th, you're still going 65, but the RPM is higher, because the TC is unlocked. You'll notice the 2nd and 3rd time you go to 3rd, there is no 'small slow jump' before the big jump to the RPM for 3rd.

However, it would appear that it's actually skipping 4th (or shifting through it so fast that it's virtually unnoticeable).

I never used the manual mode on the freeway... never saw a need to.

Would you be able to do a 4th -> 2nd and see if it skips 3rd? This is a much more common example I see almost daily; the 2nd gen sedans in D will usually go 4->3->2 noticeably, but in DS, they'll go from 4->3->2 so fast it'll seem like it skipped a gear.


Again, in the 2nd video, the RPM takes about a 400 change, before it starts to really sweep up to 3rd gear RPM.


Am I just seeing things?

Technical discussions are fun... I learn new things every day.

an addendum.

I just realized why I havn't seen gears skipped.

The main use for the manual mode I had was downshifting to 2nd gear. Going home, I'd be cruising at around 55, and have to slow down for a turn, and I'd typically be in D. Thus, I push it over to manual, and then pull down twice. (5th in D goes to 4th in manual, then 2 more for 2nd) The shift from 5 -> 4 ->3 is usually smooth, but even though the DISPLAY shows 2nd, it usually has a pretty significant delay from 3 -> 2. Keep in mind this is all while I'm braking for the turn...

I don't have my G anymore to make a video

Also, my G was a 05, so it had DRM

In either video, I'm not seeing any rpm "creep" as you say other than when the car enters 3rd and I'm depressing the throttle slightly. When the TC unlocks in 4th or 5th, the rpm jump is fairly significant. I know what a TC unlocking feels and looks like on the tach.

Now when I upshift back to 5th, the tranny does go into 4th first and then to 3rd. That's the fuzzy logic programming working making sure you weren't in the curves and you need that extra torque multiplication.

Yes, I can do a 4 to 2 downshift from 50mph or less with same result, but result is a bit more abrupt when the shift is completed because the rpms go from ~2300rpms to about 5600rpms. Prior to adjusting the shift prongs, the tranny tended to be a little more resistant to doing this. Now it does it without thinking twice.

The clearest way to see this is the 1st video.

In the begining, the TC is locked up. RPM is under 2500 at 65 mph.

After you go to 3rd, then come back, you're still going 65mph, but your RPM is over 2500.

The gear and speed is the same, so the TC is the only variable... (I realize there's maybe a 5mph difference, but that wouldn't account for that big of a RPM jump...)