Hey guys, I have a slight problem with my 2008 TL w/Automatic Transmission 3.2L.

This only happens when the car is heated up. It does not occur at all the first 5 minutes of driving.

I'll try to explain this the best I can. I can also make a video.

Lets say I accelerate to 50MPH and let go off the gas and start cruising (or start braking) to a stop. When I get to 40MPH, I get a slight jump of about 400-500RPM and I feel a "jerk" feeling of sorts. This also happens again when I reach 20MPH. The feeling that this gives is that I lost some power, and start slowing down a little more then I should. This problem occurs constantly when the car is heated up. Every time.

The transmission feels perfect when accelerating. This only happens when I'm slowing down at 40MPH and 20MPH. Is my transmission slipping? Could it be an engine/transmission-mount related problem? I've read up on it and some people describe something similar known as "engine braking." Any advice/information highly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Sounds like engine braking.
I think my transmission does this slowing down on steep hills. Don't know if it's relevant but my transmission is dying and I'm counting the days

Probably not something you want to hear though.

Your transmission should be fine.

 

Video of the problem:
I didn't go over 40MPH too many times, but you can clearly see the 20MPH jumps.

 

Makes sense when driving on steep hills, but not all the time like it does for me. Could it be related to bad motor/tranny mounts?

 

This seems normal to me....

You are slowing down, the automatic transmission is shifting down to a lower gear putting the car in a higher rpm range... And the rpm goes back down as you coast.


Btw get some gas lol!!

 

this is 100% normal. if you read the manual you will find out that 37mph is the absolute threshold for 5th gear. In regular driving it will never push it to the threshold so right about 40mph it will downshift.
and as you can expect, the one that happens around 25mph is the 4th to 3rd downshift.
After it downshifts to 3rd, it will not downshift to 2nd. Instead, when you come to a stop(or around 5mph) it will go straight to 1st.
I'm so used to how this car shifts now I can usually anticipate when each gear shift will happen.

 

I'm more or less used to it myself at this point. I'm just surprised that it's normal to get this jerking sensation only on downshifts. I think I'll go test drive an 08 TL at a dealer today and see if I can reproduce anything of the sort. I really hope that its normal, but amplified by awful engine/tranny mounts.

Thanks for the repliea I really appreciate it!!!

 

Definitely sounds like the car is simply downshifting. If you think it's not as smooth as it could be you could try a 1x3 drain and fill of your tranny fluid, could help and if it doesn't then it's still maintenance that should be done once in a while.

 

Test drove a 2008 TL with the same mileage as mine today at dealer and I the same sensation happens but to a little lesser degree. I'm guessing with new mounts ill be golden!

 

yep