'07 GS Automatic Shifting Behavior

[Voivod]

My '07 seems to stumble when it's shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. At first I thought it was me as I spent the last six - seven years babying the tranny in my old Ford by 'lift shifting' but I've found it still does it somewhat when I'm accelerating and not letting off to let the car shift. Is this typical for the automatic in the Accent? I had the tranny serviced not 1,200 miles ago in June or July at Firestone and they assured me and showed me their fluid was compatible with SP III.

This happens especially when the car's cold or just warmed up. Seems to mostly but not completely go away after driving for a good half hour or so.

I've only got about a week or two left on the warranty but I also don't want to dump money into diagnostic fees if this is how these modern transmissions behave.

[austex04]

You just mentioned your problem: you had another shop flush and change your atf. The problem is many of these shops just have one type of atf, and will put a "additive" in to "make it" the proper fluid type. You have the wrong type of atf, thats why your having shifting problems. I would stop driving it asap, becouse this will damage the transmission, and get all your atf fluid changed out with the correct fluid. Also, many of the chain shops use a solvent to flush the transmissions, this solvent often breaks loose any sludge or particles in the valve bodies, of which can cause cloggs that lead to complete failure of the unit.

[sbr711]

Most of the MC Accent have a PCM program update that may not been done (couple yr old now) and a more recent TCM program available (put both program in an ACCENT that had ROM open for update)..

The trans in the ACCENT is just a puppet.. it only does what the controller tells it to do (TCM and PCM working together to duty cycle solenoids to direct fluid to clutch assemblies as directed for for each speed of trans)

Ditch the GIPPY shop ATF that might have bottles of "WHIZZ" dumped in to simulate SP-III, and put the correct fluid in.

[Geekdragon]

I've found that stumbling shifts are normal to some degree. For me, it's most noticeable as a cold 2-3 shift -- where at its worst the tranny failed to engage the 3rd gear, and lurched back into 2nd before trying again. It was bad enough that I convinced my dealer to replace my transmission this past Spring. The new tranny is only a bit better, if at all.

At this point I'm just glad this is one small aspect of driving this car, and choose to believe it's just an annoyance, and not an indication of impending failure.

[Voivod]

Thanks guys. I'm bringing it to the dealership Monday to get it checked out and swap out the fluid. The Firestone stuff's only been in there for about 800 miles.
Not sure about the TCM/PCM updates but it did have an ECM recall service done to it right after I bought it.
So... do I just insist on a drain & fill or go with the flush you know they're going to push for to get the most of the 'gippy' Firestone fluid out that we can?

[And Don't Call Me Shirley]

That's a tricky one. A lot of shops will do a drain & fill and call it a flush because there isn't exactly a legal standard they have to uphold.

I've always felt that 2 or 3 drain & fills back to back were the best way... you get most of the fluid changed, yet you never have to hook up a "flush machine" and risk damage to seals etc.

[Voivod]

Originally Posted by And Don't Call Me Shirley

I've always felt that 2 or 3 drain & fills back to back were the best way...

But that's going to get expensive quick and I'm living on a fixed income these days. Had kinda hoped not to have to pour money into this car the way we were having to with my '91 Ford Moneypit.

[And Don't Call Me Shirley]

If you're paying retail to have someone else do that... yep, I'd agree- that's pricey. If you can do it yourself that's a whole different scenario.

You're in luck in that it's a Hyundai- it doesn't need ideal service to deliver acceptable results. You can get away with a lot. I don't mean to diminish your confidence in what the dealer can do, because some dealers really are good and really do it right. I'll point out that I've been a weekend wrench for 20+ years. When I was in school I had a night job working at a Firestone shop and saw some of the crap they got away with. That said, I am relatively new to the Hyundai scene. I think it is very likely that a dealer service to swap back to real-deal Hyundai ATF will improve your situation, regardless of how they execute that swap.

I wish you luck!

[Voivod]

Used to work on cars a lot, too much sometimes. I can remember laying in a river of slush to help a friend change a starter on his Gremlin so he could keep going to work, doing motor swaps in the driveway. The last car I really worked on was my '68 Olds Toronado. You could invite a couple friends over, everybody had room on the fenders to sit, the hood kept the rain off. The only thing about it that was a pain was the mile or so of vacuum lines that seemed to run everything.

Cars these days have gotten too complex and I've gotten too... broken to work on them. I can do the cabin and air filters, whee, but that's about it for me anymore.

My only worry is if they don't do the flush there'll be quite a bit of the other tranny fluid left to mix in with and dilute the good stuff.

[austex04]

I forgot to mention that the automatics in the mc Accents have a drain plug on the trans pan (the first car I have seen with one). If you have ramps, it would be very easy for you to drain the pan and replace the atf yourself, drive it a few miles, and repeat, to get the same results as if you paid big bucks for the dealer to do it.