Road Trip With the S/C

[Daver]

My MY01 most certainly bounces off the rev limiter in 1. I've never pushed 2 far enough, mainly because it's over 70mph to do that.

-Daver

[Tone]

I'll test several VXes this weekend ( '00 & '01) but have no doubt they ALL will stay in or below the gear selected - that is how automatic transmissions are designed and WHY they have the selections that they do. Most importantly when towing, you want to be OUT of OD (4th) and remain in 3rd, especially on hills. Torque converter lockup is what I believe the confusion or feeling of a 'shift' up to be while operating in 3rd.

[BaM*BaM]

The mountains' aspen are beginning their autumn explosion of color. The bull elk are singing their love songs, and this is a great time to be driving a VX in the high mountains.
Today I got to try and check the mysterious gear changings.

What I have found, is true only for the locked in '3rd' gear position,... and only on STEEP inclines.
The tranny will definitely shift from 'locked' 3rd to '4' (or 'L'). It is easiest to duplicate this event when I have the engine rev'ed to hi RPM's ( over 4000), and then give a very slight let up on the gas. It will instantly shift everytime from '3' to '4'( or 'D'.)

Today, only once could I duplicate it shifting from 3 to 4 as I kept the gas constantly pressed. This was at ~4500- 5000 RPM's. (still a long way from red line).

I could NEVER get it to shift out of '2' when I had it locked in '2'.

I tried only once in locked 'L' or '1', and could not get it to shift out .

I could NEVER get it to shift out of '3' when I was on relatively FLAT roads!!

**

It may be that my tranny is malfunctioning in '3' gear. On the steep roads, '3' acted much the same as normal 'D'. Not quite the same, but somewhat similar in feel and gear change.

Since this gear change occurs ONLY in '3', it makes me wonder if this is what happened to 'Dragon Bob' and 'VX crazy' since they have had this gear change occur also in locked '2' gear.

My problem with this is very, very minor, and I don't think that the S/C has anything to do with the cause. It only accentuates it. And remeber, this occurs for me ONLY on very steep mountain pass type roads.

Happy Autumn Trails,

[Tone]

This is only the converter lockup you are feeling NOT a gear change - it will stay in 3rd and NEVER go any higher unless you shift it to D. I've talked to several Isuzu mechanics and engineers and drove 3 different VXes this weekend (SCed '99, '00 and an '01)- it's ain't a shift! But the locking and unlocking of the converter does feel very similar.

What does this mean:
(L)

The tranny will definitely shift from 'locked' 3rd to '4' (or 'L').

Yes, the tranny will shift all the way down to 1st while in 3rd or 2nd.

Did you perform the rev limt test I suggested?

Try shifting the lever to D after this mysterious shift has occured while you are running at 4.5-5Kand you feel the real shift to 4(D).

I ran in third to almost a hundred (and kept the accelerator floored) up a very steep incline (2222 towards 620) and never had it auto shift to 4th.

[TimG]

I was trying to be helpful and test this in an '01. In 1st and 2nd it would bounce off the rev limiter. In 3rd, I was watching the tach instead of the speedometer, steadily gaining speed, when I glanced over at the speedometer and saw I was going over 90 and decided I wasn't the person to be doing this test. I kept expecting to see George behind me with lights flashing.

Glad to see Tone had better follow through than me.

[BaM*BaM]

We like to think that higher points ARE given for greater effort...!!!
LOL!

[VX Monster]

Just to add to the body of testing here:

Just last week I was playing with this issue on my 01, and my tranny definately did not shift out of the gear I put it in, and the rev limiter works just fine (it's not fun, but it's fine). Granted, I was on flat city streets.

On another note, Daver is worried about going over 70mph... FWiW, I took a quick jaunt over to Detroit Monday, which is about a 4.5 hour drive. about 220 miles of that are 1-94 in Michigan, which is long, straight, and has a posted speed limit of 70.

Suffice it to say, our VXs can do speeds, um, in excess of 70mph for long periods of time and do quite well. And for those who haven't road tripped in their VXs yet, those Racaros will keep your back and butt feeling fine for quite a while. I never even got "numb butt."