Automatic issue im told its normal
 

Hey there

so i got a 2018 2.0 camaro with A8 speed. I already got new trans fluid since i had the A8 shudder at around 10.000km on the clock but after that its working fine.

Now i have almost 21.000km on it and i have the issue that the camaro,, or better the transmission seems to not know what to do if im doing a coldstart and drive the first few meter or up to a km sometimes if im going a constant speed.

It doesnt matter if i want to switch gears with the paddles or switch into manual mode entirely and trying to switch gears that way it just wont switch to a higher gear. The speed doesnt matter it just has issues finding or switching the gears when everything is cold. I try to baby touch the gas but it kind of "locks" itself at 4~4.2k rpm when trying to merge into a street wanting to hit 100km/h (60mph) which is super annoying.

not that the camaro is tuned but the transmittion is not. Does a transmittion tune solve this issue? i read somewhere that its an issue that can be solved with a proper tune.

Would highly apprechiate some insights and maybe some experience if someone had the same issue as i have right now.
I love that camaro as a daily driver but that is something that annoys me about it.

So, if I have read your post correctly, you state that the car has a tune loaded?

Quite frankly, if that is the case, unload the tune back to stock and see if it does it. I would bet it will not.

The statement, "not that the camaro is tuned but the transmittion is not." would leave me to believe that you tuned the engine, but assume that the transmission is not. If that is the case, don't bet on it. Load back to a complete factory tune, then diagnose.

Don't assume just because someone said they didn't tune the transmission that something isn't messed up there. If you had it tuned you NEVER know what kind of set of basefiles the tuner used and what they copied from where. So load the stock tune your car came with and then test. (I have seen and had to fix plenty of totally messed up tunes because the tuner made some poor decisions and bad assumptions when putting a tune together)

If you do not have the stock tune anymore, go to a dealer and have a dealer load a completely stock tune back to your car (they have the capabilities).

BTW, whoever told you the way the transmission is operating is normal is wrong. It should shift no matter what, no matter how cold.

As 95TA says, this is not normal at all. I had the same 8L45 in my previous Camaro, and apart from an occasional 1->2 initial cold shift delay of 1-1.5 seconds, it would always shift normally. If you're in luck, putting the transmission into relearn mode and then "teaching" it your shift patterns may be enough.

Also along the lines of the tune mentioned above, quite a few ECM parameters impact the transmission, too, so if the TCM isn't tuned, the risk of messing up shifts is real. If you revert to the stock tune and the issue disappears, you'll know that you need a proper, combined ECM+TCM tune from a competent tuner.

Yea thats what i meant, the ecm is tuned but the tcm is not.

I will test out without a tune again and see if that solves the issue. I had it tuned by zzp however so i hope its not that.
Curious but how do i enable the relearn mode for the transmittion? Doubt i can do that on my own i presume.

Also it really only happens the first few shifts and after it kind of solved itself it works perfectly after and shifts normal like it should. Weird i even asked some v8 owners about the issue and they experience the same so i assumed it was normal-ish on the first few meters.

Personally, sounds like those V8 owners also had tunes that were "less than proper".

Transmissions shift normal right away. There may be a slight pause, or harsher or softer shifts when super cold, but it will not hang revs.

I mean if i floor the pedal it goes over the 4k RPM but i dont want to on a cold engine. Its not stuck at the rpm but rather it will not shift to a higher gear if i babytouch the pedal either, you know what i mean?

When that happens im giving like 10% throttle. It will rev higher but i dont want it to rev higher when nothing is at temperature

Trust me, I know exactly what you mean. Low throttle upshifts are nice and easy on teh transmission, so there is no reason it isn't doing it.

Again, go back to 100% stock, and I am sure you will notice it shifts normal.

Okay a little update on the matter. I wrote back and forth with my tuner at zzp and we figured out that my TCC is slipping badly.
Now he told me that the desired slippage is at 0.0rpm but actual is 1030rpm.

Im not big into that technical stuff but to me that sounds bad. Since Matt at zzp is very... VERY sparce with information about anything i wanted to ask here too what i can do to fix that issue.

It drives absolutely horrible for the very first few minutes and is completly fine after like nothing ever happened. Note that ONLY the ECM is tuned and not the TCM since it a bit of a hassle to get that done, If it can be resolved with a TCM tune i will absolutely go for it.

Thanks in advance and i hope anyone can help me with this.

Dome , what is the first digit of your VIN# ? I'm betting you have a very outdated calibration on the TCM.

My VIN starts with "1G1F..." if thats what you´re asking. Its a 2018 model tho

Ok, that should not be a calibration issue then..

How does the first number of the VIN tell you anything like that? All Chevrolets built in the US have a VIN starting with 1G1.

The first 1-2 in the morning has always been a little quirky for me. So….
1. Start the car
2. Put the shifter into drive
3. Slap it over to manual mode
4. Shift it into 2nd, back to 1st. I do that twice. Takes like 10 seconds.

Car then shifts smoothly.