When I make a quick stop and then go (say at stop sign) my automatic Maxima wants to take off in third gear. If I come to a complete stop and wait just a second it will take off in first gear(like it should). Does this happen on your Maximas? Is there anything I can do to change this? I really want to take off in at least 2nd. This is my #1 complaint about my car. It also seems like the car may be upshifting gears early.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gears

 

it will almost never take off in 1st unless you come to a complete stop then go or if you mash the gas from a roll

 

Yea if you sorta dont come to a complete stop and take off, it will jerk into gear pretty hard. Very common. Just come to a complete stop or floor it out of every stop or corner j/k

 

Thanks for the responses. Can anyone else verify that there car is leaving in 3rd and not in second? I have never owned a car that took off in third from that slow of a speed. I find this very unusal and irritating. The way I know it is third gear, is beceause I will take off and then drop it in second and it will downshift into second.

Do you know of any mods that will help this? I would be perfectly happy if it took off in second instead of third.

Thanks again,
Gears

 

My fathers Maxima does that, but thats only because he barley touches the gas pedal (meaning he NEVER beats on it).

 

Thats just the way it shifts, some weird shift logic with these trannies. Dont know about any mods that would correct this. Me personaly i drive my car pretty hard and i just got used to stopping and taking off right so that i dont even realize im doing it, and i rarely ever make it jerk into gear like that anymore.
All i can say is get used to it and be glad its not a transmission problem(sort of).

 

There is a VB mod for the automatics. I haven't read-up too much on this mod, so I'm not sure if it does anything for the problem you are discribing (I experience it myself). You may try a search in the FAQ's in the sticky at hte top of your generation forum.

 

VB mod and high stall TC

 

Thanks PoePoe, RobUsa, maxhopper and Nismo. I thought I had some serious trans. problems when I discovered this thing was taking off in third. This is really ridiculous for a 4DSC to be set up like this. This really bogs the engine down. If the valve body mod cures this then count me in . I will have to do a search on this as you suggested. I also would love a high stall converter, but I bet they don't give those away!!

Thanks for the help,
Gears

 

I have the EXACT same issue on my 95 SE auto... Unless you slow down below about 5mph, when you try to accelerate, it does not downshift to second.

It either starts in 3rd, or if you slow down far enough, it drops all the way to 1st. I don't think I've ever noticed it picking up in 2nd on its own...

It is very strange - I've gotten in the habit of actually dropping the gear-shift back to 2nd when I accelerate from slowing down to between 10-15. I've gotten pretty good at "timing" the shift with a little extra throttle, so the tranny and engine think it's just a "kick-down," and it shifts/sounds smooth (unlike just dropping the shift back to 2nd).

How many miles on your max? 117k here

 

5 Speed Conversion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I had to laugh when I read this reply because I am doing EXACTLY the same thing! I am so much happier driving when I manually drop it into second. The car pulls so much better. I also try and fool the car by giving it extra gas when I can. The problem is that people around here drive so slow that I can't give it enough gas most of the time.

I guess I am just used to the Acura Vigor I used to have. That sucker would lightem' up in first and catch a real mean second when manually shifted. All that with a 2.5L 5 cylinder. That thing had an awesome automatic transmission.

By the way, I have 92,000 miles on the car. I really like this car and it has good power. But it needs to be rev'd to run.

Thanks for the reply jguillory,
Gears

 

All auto 4 gens did that, its almost like a lock out. It does come in handy so you dont downshift hard and spin out in the rain or snow but any other time its pretty annoying.


Considering the 3rd gen was the real 4DSC I guess when they made the 4th gen they went a little more conservative with the auto trans. It does that and will keep doing that, your transmission is fine. Mine does it all the time and the only thing you can do is floor it more till it downshifts