Hello everyone.

I have recently bought a 05 G35 sedan with the automatic/manual gear. Within a month, I have started experiencing what I think might be a problem: (please excuse my non-technical ability to explain the issue) it’s inconsistent but- when I brake and the car comes almost to a stop, then push the accelerator, it sometimes takes a second for the gear to engage. The engine revs and by the time the gear finally engages the car jerks… it also happens sometimes even when I come to a complete stop.

I have taken it to the dealer and obviously I couldn’t reproduce the problem while driving the service manager. Based on my explanation, he told me that it’s normal. As in, “the computer doesn’t read your mind, it takes it a second to understand” and it’s common for this kind of Transmission.

Again, I’m not very mechanical so I don’t know what it means, but I also don’t think this is ‘normal’.

Any help is appreciated.

 

did you check the transmission oil to see if it smells burnt or looks burnt????

 

No I didn't. I'll check it later. What does 'burnt' transmission oil look like? is it suppose to be red color?

 

It could just be the notorious lag. Try driving it in manual mode. Get going in 1st and then from a slow roll give it a good amount of throttle. Shift into second before redline and continue going with high throttle (ease off before redline). Then try it again in D, gun it from a slow roll (8 MPH or so). If it takes a second or two to engage (a lot longer than in manual mode), it's probably just typical lag for the auto. Mine used to do it all the time. 8 MPH was roughly the "lag threshold", if I went wide open throttle above that (but below about 38 MPH), it would fall on its butt.

 

Tell me more about the 'notorious lag'. I definitely have a lag when I kick the accelerator to downshift. Is this ‘normal’? I had a Mazda Protege5 before and never felt like that – it was very responsive…

 

yes transmission oil depending on what kind is typically red in color.. if its burnt.. the color is almost like purple.. and when you smell the dipstick it smells burnt.. meaning that the previous owner never changed the transmission oil...

 

I think it's safe to say it's common. I'm probably not the best candidate for comparison though, because I have a bad valve body, maybe some of the other 5AT owners can chime in?

But based on what I've seen on the road, and what I've seen in a number of other posts, I think there are "zones" where there is significant lag with the auto. With my car at least, the main zones were 8-38 MPH and 45-58 MPH (+/- 1 MPH). If I went WOT at those speeds, there was always a 1-2 second lag. But outside of those zones, say from a dead stop, or at 40 MPH, if I went WOT the car would respond almost instantly.

P.S. the other thoughts about the transmission fluid may be dead on. This is just another possibility.

 

Grounding gear has helped many (but not all) people with the 5AT lag issue. What you experience rolling to a stop is catching the transmission while it is downshifting to 1st.

https://g35driver.com/forums/reviews/55081-gordgee-s-groundinggear.html