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Need A/T experts! Slipping at low throttle.

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BurrowZ

10+ Year Contributor
836
5
Nov 28, 2010
Duluth, Minnesota
Alright I can't quite explain this enough to search for it.

Basically I am getting two codes on my DSM.
1. Knock sensor circuit malfunction
2. TPS malfunction

So what is weird is that my SAFC will read Throttle % perfectly but I still get this code. I have tried adjusting it numerous times to no change. I tried doing it by the book and still get the code.

But my question is this:

I notice when in D and accelerating at low throttle (from -1 to -15) my car will shift, then feel like it slipped into neutral and shift again.. but remain in the gear it shifted into. It does this twice up to 25mph and almost feels like a slip but I have no other issues besides a few "clunks" when slowed and turning here and there. Also from R to D, sometimes clunks if I don't wait a certain amount of time.

HOWEVER, when at 0 or at 5 psi I feel like this problem dissapears. Seems strange to me but I was thinking this could be TPS related since it is one of the inputs for the TCU.

The car will not do this if started cold and driven. In fact it barely wants to move.. but it does not do this "slip".

If manually shifting, shifts fine from 1-2, 2-3 with OD off shifts fine, but light throttle sometimes raises the RPMS before catching, and shifting with OD on results in RPMS increasing nearly 300-500 before hitting third and then shifting into OD.

And finally all warmed up and WOT when shifting into 3rd it seems like my tranny just hits full neutral so I let off, never have gone past 80 yet.



Thoughts? Ideas? Experiences? Cool stories?
 
Last edited:
Fluid is low .. about 3 qts.
You check fluid level hot in NEUTRAL.
Use ATF+4 or SP-II fluids.
Shove Dextron in there and you can really kiss that tranny goodbye.

Manual shifting an automatic aint the coolest thing to do. You're prob due for an overhaul...
 
Fluid is low .. about 3 qts.
You check fluid level hot in NEUTRAL.
Use ATF+4 or SP-II fluids.
Shove Dextron in there and you can really kiss that tranny goodbye.

Manual shifting an automatic aint the coolest thing to do. You're prob due for an overhaul...

Should have mentioned.. I checked fluid and it's full. I'm going to have to flush it and change the filter/fluid tonight I think.

Yeah I know I was just seeing if it always did it between shifts or only if it was in D.
 
Ok, did you add the Lubegard black bottle? That helped mine immensely. Also, for the TPS. Did you check to see if the SAFC was spliced into the TPS wire, not completely cut and only ran to the safc?
 
Same thing happen to me. I rebuild the transmission and it was still happening. It was my torque converter it went to sleep.
 
Thanks for all the help guys!

After a flush and filter it kept doing it, so I had my instructor drive it around who owns a tranny shop. He actually had notes he had to dig up on 95-99 AWD DSMs and we pulled the pan and adjusted a little knob on the valve body (still not sure what it was sadly. I gotta pay attention) and problem solved.

He said something about one full turn is 5psi, so while hooked up to the Modis and reading line pressure he turned it about one and half turns. Took it for a drive and it stopped completely.

:)
 
It's not a knob. There are two adjustments. One is for line pressure reduction, and one is for shift pressure. The one for shift pressure is right there and easily accessible once you take off the filter, and the line pressure one is harder to get to, on top of the valve body, and will be between the valve body and the transmission case.

See the shift kit installation videos by IPT. He kind of explains some things about the adjustments.

 
It's not a knob. There are two adjustments. One is for line pressure reduction, and one is for shift pressure. The one for shift pressure is right there and easily accessible once you take off the filter, and the line pressure one is harder to get to, on top of the valve body, and will be between the valve body and the transmission case.

See the shift kit installation videos by IPT. He kind of explains some things about the adjustments.


Thanks for clearing that up for me.

When I think of adjustment I think of knob.. no idea why. So I typed that.

I'll ask him which adjustments were made and be back with answers.
 
Raising the line pressure from stock will make a slipping trans not slip, temporarily, it got me an extra couple months of non-spirited driving with my daily driver...Start saving your money for a freshening up..JMHO
Do you have your TPS set correctly now ? They do loose tension and go bad sometimes...
 
I, too, concur with the temporary nature of raising line pressure, BUT the OP is not making stock power. If he was, then it would be a band-aid for something further wrong. You have to get your TPS squared away, too. What matters is that the idle part is adjusted properly, and that an analog multimeter's needle moves smoothly through opening the throttle. If the graphite traces inside are worn out, resistance will be spotty. When you adjust the TPS correctly, it should show a 10% position when closed, not zero.
 
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