gear shifts at 6th gear

F

FikseRxSeven

Member
have you guys noticed that the gear changes on light acceleration on 6th gear? or on inclines?

the number on the dash says 6th gear, but the rpm increases as if it is on 5th gear.

i just find it strange that the dash doesnt change numbers
 
What you are probably feeling is the torque converter locking/unlocking not an actual gear change.
 
yea ive noticed this too when im driving my moms cx7
its weird, it pulled and the rpms rose like it went down a gear but the dash still said 6th
 
I notice the same thing in my CX-9, and as Mazda3 stated above, I just assumed that it had something to do with the torque converter. I guess the Mazda engineers determined that it's more beneficial to stay in 6th and up the rpms than to drop down a gear....
 
What is the minimum speed that the torque converter will lock up in 6th gear? Mine doesn't seem to lock up until at least 66mph.

I just got my CX-9 back from a transmission control module replacement and it seems to me that it doesn't lock up as quickly as it used to. I'm pretty certain that it locked up a much lower speeds before.

Gas mileage also seems to have dropped by about 2mpg, possibly due to exactly this, as I do mostly interstate driving.
 
Mine seems to lock and unlock causing a very noticeable jolt. Usually happens when car is in 6th under light load at low RPMs.. Any way of describing this to the dealer so they can check it out. They have not been able to reproduce the problem.

Thank you,
Craig
 
I notice this too. Usually happens at highway speeds in 6th when you get on a long uphill grade. I assumed the car was downshifting without registering a gear change on the display but doesn't make a lot of sense as the display seems to track gear shifts (up and down) at other times. So I guess others are right and it's the torque converter. But can someone teach me something and explain what exactly is going on. My guess is that the torque converter locks at highway speeds under light loads. As the load increases to maintain speed up a long hill it may need to unlock and this is what we're experiencing.
 
This seems to be getting worse for me.. Does anyone know if there is a TSB for this? Or, perhaps what is "normal" operation?

Thank you,
Craig
 
Are you under warranty? If so, take it to the dealer and have a tech ride with you, so you can duplicate the problem in front of him.
 
It is still under powertrain warranty.. They have tried to duplicate the problem to no avail. The next step is to do the ride-a-long.
 
If they or yourself cannot duplicate the problem while on the ride-a-long, make sure you keep all documentation in case this issue runs until your warranty finishes, just in case you need to make a case after the warranty period.
 
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