Hey all,

My '03 STR has 85k miles on it; I've put the last 7k on since purchasing in January. I am planning over the next few months to get the car into tip-top shape and the main concern I have is the transmission. I did change the fluid, pan/filter, and sleeve about 4 months ago. I did a full ECU reset at the time so it should have relearned my shifting.

As described in the title the problem is:
-The J-gate works perfectly and smooth from Park-Drive and over to 5. It will not select 2-4 without significant force (so I don't use these, just leave in D. I haven't seen this mentioned on these forums before)
-Upshifting from 1-2 is very rough/clunky. The downshift isn't particularly smooth, but doesn't effect driveability. If I am going 1-2 from a stop, on a hill, and don't finesse the gas quite right, it will occasionally slip out of gear (big red flag).

I do not recall if the J-gate problem was present prior to the fluid change, but the 1-2 shift was why I originally did the change. After it is in 2nd gear it shifts great.

So I am wondering how I should proceed?
A) Drain fluid and re-fill with new fluid
B) Recheck fluid level (could it being underfilled or overfilled cause these problems?) and adjust as necessary.
C) Add additive? I've seen mention of a ZF additive. I would say the upshift has this so-called "squak".
D) Drive until tranny gives up, rebuilt tranny
E) Other...I'm all ears.

Thank you for any input!

 

Did you fill as described in the stickies? If not, what did you do?

 

I performed the fill per the stickies. But, that doesn't mean I got the fill level right. It seemed right at the time, but maybe it wasn't. I used a harbor freight infrared thermometer, probably not too accurate, and this was my first time swapping the fluid on this type of transmission.

So I guess I'm leaning towards under/over filled just because it will be the easiest thing to go ahead and check. But I'm really wondering why 2-4 aren't selectable and that makes me thing this may be something different entirely.

Planning to get under the car next weekend so hoping info is helpful.

Thanks!

 

treese88,

Did you ever find out what the solution was to the mechanical resistance when trying to select 2nd gear?

My wife's 2003 X-type 2.5 has the exact same problem.

Pulled the shifter assembly out of the car, made sure nothing was broken inside it, the unit worked flawlessly. Put back in car, attached cable and got the same resistance. Getting under car tomorrow to check the other end of the linkage. Any tips on what I should be looking for? Or links to other threads that deal with this specific issue.

Other info-car was towed for a bad fuel pump-replaced the pump-started the car and noticed that it was not going into drive. Goes into park, reverse, neutral, sounds like it goes into Drive (rpms drop) but no joy when pressing the accelerator. When I move it over to 4th gear on the manual side on the j-gate, the car does go into gear. When I move it back to drive after that, it is shifts through all the gears just fine (in normal drive position). When I try to go up into 2nd gear on the manual side, I get heavy mechanical resistance, so I do not force it. Note: it will not go into drive unless I move to the manual side first.

It never had this problem before. We have been very lucky with this car as the fuel pump is the first major mechanical issue we have had with the car in 13 years. I know these cars have horrible reputations--we just got a good one.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or assistance.

 

The shifter has 2 bolts on the trans side and fairly often these work loose or even fall out. Sometimes you get weird effects, sometimes a non-start.

 

If the two bolts are OK I would attempt to adjust the shift cable.

Be aware it might have stretched and can't be adjusted properly. Then you need to replace the cable.
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All,

It was indeed the shift cable adjustment. We had to play with it a bit but it finally engaged Drive properly and all lights on shifter lit up as they should have when the proper gear was selected. Once that was done, did a fluid level check (using the fluid level check hole right by the cable under the transmission) and had to add a quart of Castrol Transmax Import Multi-Vehicle ATF through the fill hole located under the battery box. Car runs great and the shifts are the best ever felt on this car in a long time. So we had two problems-one a mechanical one (the shift cable adjustment) and the other a fluid level issue. Thanks to all who responded back.