I searched the forum, but could not find anything similar to what I am sensing with my '06 SS. Three things concern me with the shifting of the transmission, and i wonder if it's the transmission, or if it's me not use to such an electronically controlled transmission.

1. Sometimes on somewhat hard acelleration (half throttle), the car tends to bog down between the one-two shift. Once it hits second, its pulls again and everything is fine.

2. At 40-50 mph while going down the road, I will sometimessense theengine tone changing. When I look at the tach, I see it has changed RPM momentarily and then resumes the RPM. When it does this, you can hear the exhaust note change and that's what prompts me to look at the tach. I meantion this to the dealer, but they blew it off as the shift point of going into 4th gear. But I am cruising at one speed on a straight road.

3. Eratic shift patterns. I drive the same roads, basically all the time. Somedays the car feels like it is really shifting nice, firm, crisp shifts, like I would expect on an SS. Then other days, it seems like all the shifts are "washed out" and doesn't seem like it wants to get up an go.

Can anyone offer any insight? Am I just being crazy? I remember reading something about an Automatic Transmission Control Module on these cars, but for the life of me I can not remember where. Could that be affecting the shift patterns? And if so, does it need to be reflashed or replaced. I am not believing the dealer at this point , and I really want to drive another one like mine to see if it's me or my car.

Any insight, thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

Any lights flashing or coming in on the dash?

Out of curiosity, does it have an aftermarket airfilter?

 

an 06 SS has Displacement on Demand. (GM's technology, DoD) To increase fuel mileage during highway use the car deactivates the spark, and the lifters on 4 cylinders, causing them to "freewheel" This theoretically saves fuel, cause 4 less cylinders are requiring fuel. This will cause the change in the exhaust tone, and a light should indicate 4 or 8 cylinder mode. While drivingattentively, scan through the Driver Information Center modes, and one will Indicate wether or not the vehicle is in full 8 cylinder mode, or in the DOD fuel economy mode.

This should co-incide with your exhaust note change, and rpm "surge" that you are experiencing.

Let me know if this is correct!

 

Air filter has not been replaced by me. I bought the car w/ 8K on it and it now has about 12K. It wiil be replaced at the next oil change though, most likely next weekend.

As for the DOD, that is some of the explanation. I drovethe car around with the display on that shows the mode. And while that is somewhat the cause of my concern on number one, concern number three is really bothering me. To me, if I am driving the same roads, and not changing my driving style, I can't figure out why one day the car shifts firm and the next it feels like it is "washing out" and not wanting to pull the car.

I am really think at this point to do 2 things. One is to have the dealer reflash the cars computer. If that doesn't help, I was think of purchasing the Diablo Sport computer program and override the DOD system. I am not a fan, and for what is would save me around town, it aggrevates more than the fuel cost is worth.

 

 

Hi Ed,

No, you're not crazy! But...maybe I'm the wrong person to be judging that, LOL.

Try putting the car into drive (3), and not overdrive (D), this disables the DOD, drive it and see what happens. The DOD seems to have a mind of its own, and will try to deactivate cylinders at any speed, at any time, often for no apparent reason, at least on my car. This even happens, like you said, driving the same roads at the same speeds. With the car in plain old drive see if you can repeat anything you mentioned. If you can't, I would say it's that crazy DOD causing your issues. Sometimes the DOD takes a second to reactivate the cylinders when you give her the gas. This might be the hesitation you're talking about. I find that if you nail it, there is no hesitation at all!

If you can make it do the same things, no response, etc, take it to Autozone and ask them to scan it for you (it's free) or take it to the dealer and have them check it out.

Not sure, but I think you can drive it alright in plain old drive(3) without hurting anything. Just make sure you use the overdrive if driving for extended periods on the highway or situations that would call for using cruise control. Not sure how or if that would affect it, though, just seems like you'd want the better gas mileage. Craig (Black Attack) could probably give you some more info on that.

Another little trick on 06 and 07's is that you can turn off the DRL's by turning your light switch to the left after you start the car. This turns off "Automatic Light Control", but you have to do it each time you start the car. I like turning them off to attract less attention.

Let us know what you find out.

Mark

 

See if the car being warmed up, versus being cold makes a difference. I noticed my car will not go into OD until the engine is at normal operating temp, because once it's there, then the Catalytic converter does it's job correctlyand reduces emissions.

 

I can tell you, if you have your cruise turned "ON",set or not, your car will react differently as the d-a-m-m cruise controlscrews with the TCM & PCM. Make sure your "Cruise" is turn "OFF". I leave my car in 3rd until I reach 50-mph, then I will shift it into "Drive."

The Diablo will help a little, but the HP is a much better tuner and a shift kit (around $30) will help even more.

Then we have the WORST designed drivetrain in the HISTORY of cars!!! 5/8" drive chain, soft axles, and a computer "ABUSE" system that will aid in your early death! as it takes control away from you just when you really need it, but saves the WEAK DESIGN DRIVETRAIN!!! But that's OK... It's cheaper to pay off your spouse in a wrongful death lawsuit than it would have been to spend $350 more per unit to build your car the right way! Oh... that $350 if they would have done it right in the first place! About $3500 now to do it as an after-thought!

The HP Tuner is GREAT at fine tuning your motor and trans, and at shuting off all the stupid crap (safety equipment designed to save the pisspoor desgin, and not safety to help you). You will need to spend money on harden axles, 3/4" or 1" drive chain, Torque Convertor, HD Differential, and clutch disks... or the HP tune will destory your whimpy trans and drivetrain. The advantage of the Diablo is that you can drive right into the dealership for repair, and just before youpull into the garage, upload the stock program so you don't void your warranty and the second you get into your car, upload the 93-octane performance tune. The problem with the Diablo is that it does not have TCM support... as of yet!

 

Had the car into the dealer for what turned out to be a water pump issue. Since the service writer was very responsive to the pump and not hassling me, I told him about the erratic shifting of the car. Same dealership that another service writer told me the car was shifting "normally". This writer said that he would check the compter program in the car, and if outdated, would update it with the latest program. Well, it was definitely out of date. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The car finally performs like I thought it should. Lesson: when unhappy with something, and you don't like the first answer, seek out a second opinion. I cannot believe I let one writer convince me of something in the back ofmy head I knew was wrong. I am FINALLY able to really enjoy my car. I looked on my receipt for the new program code, but they did not list it. Thank God for warranties. Free is good.

Thanks for all the info on the tuner info. Now that I can enjoy the car, and thoughts of unloading it are disapating, I will start looking into the tuner and transmission options availble.

 

hey bud- I also have an '06 SS and have experienced that too. It is mainly because of the dod feature and you most likely hit the throttle kinda hard when it was in 4 cyn mode. I figured out that the computer is a tad slow,and gets confused as to how you want to drive it. It's only a split second that this happens, but yeah, you're not alone... also, if the front end on your car feels like it's looser than it was or you feel a slight clunking through the steering wheel, I just had the steering box or shaft replaced, and was told it's a common problem