Jerky acceleration or hesitation manual mode A8
 

Hi so for those that have the horrible A8 trans lol! I’ve noticed in manual mode when accelerating hard in first or second There a slight hesitation or jolt for lack of better terms. It’s not horrible but def feels kinda like my ws6 trans am that’s not getting enough fuel through the injectors or something. Like it’s trying then all of a sudden it takes off like crazy! Obviously my camaro is not as bad but just trying to give you an idea. For the record if I punch the throttle in automatic mode it doesn’t seem to do it. You would think in manual mode that it would rev up smooth until you initiate the shift to the next gear. Just wondered if this is another weird result of this horrible trans or just normal under heavy load? For the record I don’t remember it doing this 6 months ago but I’ve been driving in manual mode a little more recently so I don’t have to deal with the horrible auto trans! Anyway just wondered if anyone else had this or felt it. It’s def more noticeable in first and second. Didn’t notice after that.

Well in manual mode it's going to feel more like a stick shift setup, because you're obviously taking out the built in delay of the torque converter engagement.

It’s been a few years since I had a performance stick car but I don’t remember there being a sudden loss of power on hard acceleration. At least not on the newer cars. Def on the old muscle cars. Lol. I’m gonna play around with it some more out by my dads property and see if I can pin point it a little better.

I’d understand if it was delayed or bogged at the shift point but this is in the hard acceleration of the gear with no shifting. I just figured some of the auto guys on here have driven in manual a lot more than I have and could shed some light on this one.

I guess it's kind of hard to totally understand what you're describing here, but there definitely shouldn't be a sudden loss in power. There certainly should be no hesitation in manual mode either

Yea that’s what I was thinking. It’s hard to explain anything on here short of the person being in the car with you but it just seems to be jolty or hesitating for a sec then takes off. Best way I can describe it.

So when you floor it in manual mode it hesitates first then jolts you right after that?

Literally reminds me of a fuel issue in older cars. I had a few built cars over the years and the fuel delivery was always the lag in acceleration problem. At least with those anyway.

It’s not right at first, it’s just when it starts to get the rpms up then it does it and then right after that it is smooth as can be!

it was between 2500-3500 rpms range.

The way I'm interpreting this is that it sounds like the trans is slipping, but not right away. Certainly doesn't sound like the A8 shudder, but who knows. Basically it should be a fairly instantaneous and completely smooth pull when you floor it in manual mode. There should be no hesitation or jolt... especially after you've already laid into it

Based solely on your description, this is not normal.

I had the 8L45 in my previous V6 Camaro and it indeed wasn't as great as the 8L90 in my SS (yes, this A8 trans is now working extremely well after tuning, and it wasn't bad from the factory to begin with). That said, even though it had a few clunky 3->1 downshifts especially when cold, acceleration in a single gear was always linear even with the 8L45.

I'd have the transmission and the torque converter checked out by a competent dealership.

I too have been using manual mode mostly to keep the motor turning 1500-1800rpm when when driving along in the 30-40 mph range to stop the annoying up shift to too high of a gear making it lug and surge as it cycles in and out of 4cyl mode. The only time I have experienced what you describe as " a hesitation then it takes off" is when I slowed down, forgot to manually down shift,(in auto it probably would have dropped 2 gears) then accelerate which causes the car to hesitate until it builds enough RPM at which time it takes off. From a stand still in manual mine pulls smooth and hard even when banging every gear to the red line....

You sure you're not feeling the transition from v4 to V8?