dip in rpm's in 2nd gear

joyrider · 09-30-2004, 01:02 PM

I have a 95 Saturn SC2. It accelerates great in 1st and the beginning of 2nd--then while in 2nd it drops about a couple hundred rpm's and has to work back up from there. It doesn't seem to matter how much gas I'm putting in or how fast I'm going. All other gears are normal. This is really annoying when I'm trying to pass someone or just race--what is causing this?

sierrap615 · 09-30-2004, 09:17 PM

auto/manual?

joyrider · 10-04-2004, 09:55 AM

Automatic.

sierrap615 · 10-04-2004, 04:15 PM

i don't know whats causing this, ask on saturnfans.com

sickcallawayc12 · 10-04-2004, 06:30 PM

maybe a problem with the actual 2nd gear in the tranny. just a guess though. Was there any previous work done on the tranny before? Could be a start.

Chris101 · 10-05-2004, 05:36 PM

Mine does the same thing, but I don't loose power when it does this. I was also told that it was normal for Saturns to do this.

Quote:

...but does it feel like a extra shift between 2nd and 3rd? thats another unique thing about saturns. most other cars the torque converter clutch locks after 4th, for us, it locks between 2nd and 3rd. this means a rougher ride, but a little more power.

It was sierrap615 who told me about it. Dunno why he said he's not sure...

sierrap615 · 10-05-2004, 09:54 PM

honistly, i've only driven a auto saturn once, my saturn is a manual. so i don't know exactly what it feels like or the relation to RPM, all i know is that the TCC feels like a extra shift. but like you said, you don't lose power, if it is the TCC, i would think it is locking up to early, it should lock when the engine and the trans are rotating around the same speed.

joyrider · 10-07-2004, 12:42 PM

Hmmm. It doesn't feel like an extra shift, just a slight loss of power. A kid owned this car before me and wrecked it when he hit a deer, so who knows.

atc2be · 10-11-2004, 04:55 PM

I have a 1997 SL-1. I was never really a big fan of Saturns but my fiance's car died, I gave her mine, and then bought this one off of her mother for $500 (she was trading it in for a new one). 140K,, keyless entry, great shape, not a bad buy, I don't think so anyway.

On to the subject at hand, the Saturn I ended up with is an auto (i'm a manual fan myself) but it does the same thing. With mine...it goes up through first (let's say to 3 grand), then shifts into second, (down to 2000), then it might accelereate to about 2300 before it feels like it shifts again then drops to 2000 or 2100.

I have about a 35 mile drive each way to work, mostly highway, but when i do get off the highway it's a lot of stop and go.

In my daily 70-80 miles, I've realized two ways to stop or somewhat minimize this gear-searching this car seems to do. 1. My car has the little shift mode selector switch on it. If you leave it in Performance (PERF) mode, it holds the gears longer and makes shifting a LOT smoother. 2. As the car accelerates through the gears that you're experiencing the problems in, don't let off the gas. I've noticed that if you start to let off the gas around the time that thing seems to do it's "double shift", it tends to be a lot more prominent, with a more noticable power loss.

joyrider · 10-12-2004, 01:42 PM

That sounds exactly like my problem. I do leave the shift selector in performance (cuz, why not?!). I guess it's really no biggie. Thanks for all the input at least mine is not the only Saturn with this weird glitch.

atc2be · 10-12-2004, 09:04 PM

Here I was, driving along, up a hill, and there the car is..searching through gears. (You'd think after 142,000 miles that it would realize which ones it likes) and it hit me...as much of a pain as it is, if your climbing, racing, or just gettin on the car, leave it in 2nd...if you manually put the selector into "2"...it doesn't double shift!!..amazing...funny the crap you think up when nothing's on the radio...and i have XM...over 130 channels and nothing that i like...amazing...

joyrider · 10-13-2004, 10:31 AM

duh, never thought of that--
by the way radio's like having cable or satellite, huh? spend half an hour flipping thru channels and still nothing worth watching!

joyrider · 10-15-2004, 11:10 AM

just to update, at saturnfans.com they seemed to agree that it's just the torque converter and is normal. i don't like it though--normal or not!

atc2be · 10-15-2004, 10:58 PM

Saturnfans.com is a cool site and all but has anyone noticed that when it's not something they can explain, or it's something that just plain doesn't make sense their response always seems to be "it's normal." Also, does anyone seem to have that reverse "slamming into gear thing" with their Saturn. I've read countless posts about the older transmissions "slamming into reverse." Here's a hint. Put it into reverse, and wait two seconds before you slam on the gas. I find that if the car has a chance to shift BEFORE you hit the gas...no slam...amazing...

POST REPLY TO THIS THREAD