AT - Failed to downshift in manual mode
 

I was just on the parkway on my way home, driving my AT in manual mode and i was in 5th gear. Traffic slowed down to around 25-35mph for a couple minutes but never really went any slower than that or stopped completely or anything. As it picked back up, i hit the gas and the car would not accelerate and the rpm wasn't rising at all with me flooring the gas pedal. I glanced down and noticed the car was still in 5th and never downshifted on its own like it normally does. I manually dropped down to 4th gear and the rpm shot up from 2000rpm where it was in 5th up to around 4500-5000rpm and i was then able to accelerate and shift back to 5th as the speed increased. Any idea what would cause this? Did i just happen to end up at a speed/rpm combo that stopped it from shifting and got it stuck? Anything to worry about?

Probably just a glitch. ..or your car telling you to buy a REAL Manual. Haha.

hopefully it was just a one time thing. no lights came on or anything. i immediately thought of the other guy who had his car just stop accelerating and die in the middle of the road. If it did die at least there was already a flat bed there pulling what looked like it might've at one point been a mustang before it became an accordion out of the trees.

my AT in manual mode doesn't shift down until about 1300-1500 rpm anyway...

yea i just found it weird that it stayed all the way up in 5th in the 25-35mph range. usually it would've dropped down to 3rd at that speed. instead it just hung up and just wouldn't move until i manually downshifted. Only reason the rpm went up so high in 4th so quick was cause i was still pressing hard on the gas

you were in manual mode, which means you manually up n down shift

Although true, the car (really any auto with a manual mode) automatically downshifts for you when rpms get too low.

@abutterman But yea I think I've had this happen with me in higher gears as well. Never really thought much of it though as it's only happened when my car was still a bit cold. I would just downshift and go. Do you keep sport mode on when you switch to manual?

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That would be normal. The whole manual thing is supposed to get you more involved.

When my car is in Auto made, it will not manually upshift at full throttle.

sport mode was off and the car was warmed up.

although it will normally try to stay in the gear you're in, if your speed/rpm drop enough it'll downshift for you to prevent such an occurrence. never had this happen before in this car or ever in my old tc

it wasn't upshifting that was the problem. it never auto downshifted as it was supposed to leaving it in a state where the rpm was frozen where it was and could no longer accelerate.

If your allowing the transmission to downshift for you when you slow down in manual mode, why not just it in full auto mode? I wouldn't want to lug the engine to much. Use manual when your doing a little more spirited driving.

normally i would downshift it on my own but the thing is when you slow down and maintain that slower speed, its supposed to just take it down nice and clean to the appropriate gear. Since it normally does this, i didn't think to do it on my own.

Sounds to me you're wanting half manual and half automatic. Which ever way you go, be consistant. In manual mode, shift when needed. Don't feel like shifting, leave it in automatic.

I can shift into 6 at 38mph.. And it will run that way all 5 miles on base that I had to for work.. Speed limit is 35, so I'd get it into 6th at 38 and it would stay there untill about 35-36 then downsift into 5th.. So sounds like its normal to me

Like the others said:
Manual = You Shift
Auto = The car Shift

If you don't want to shift, don't put into manual.

i don't think anyone's quite understanding this. the automatic transmission, regardless of whether it's in drive or in manual mode will downshift automatically. if you're in 5th and come to a slow roll for more than a couple seconds, it will automatically switch to second gear. If you stop completely, it will automatically go back to first. Yes you can downshift on your own if you want to but it's still supposed to take care of it for you as needed. In this case it did not. Instead it got stuck at a low rpm in 5th gear and prevented the car from moving any faster. That is not normal behavior for an automatic in manual mode.

And I don't think you read my post.. You can/the car will stay in 5th around 30-35mph, without downshifting.. As I did this regularly.. Off the top of my head I don't remember the speed it downshifts into 4th

ok well even forgetting about when it should downshift, you say you can drive the car perfectly fine in 6th gear at 38mph. I was at around 35 in 5th with the rpm stuck real low and the car no longer accelerating.

I'm just maintaining speed.. It's about 5 miles from the gate to where I worked on post.. All 35mph.. Three stop signs on the way.. But I also average about 38 mpg and its because during my normal commute its driving like this.. Now that I've been living in Vegas.. It's a different story and I'm down to around 27 mpg lol

I noticed the threshold for the manual mode auto downshifts are pretty low when not in sport mode (similar to the transmission itself). It's usually content to chug along in 5th or 6th at 1500-2500 RPM. It's much better at sensing downshifts into 2nd and 1st gear in manual mode.

I feel like in sport mode it's more aggressive with its automatic downshifts, that might help you out.

That's my experience as well. In Full Manual Mode, I've never had the AT downshift by itself until the computer thinks its going to stall. Has nothing to do with speed but RPMs, or at least that is how it appears to me.

If, as the OP says, the car was moving at 35 or so MPH the entire time, I wouldn't expect it to downshift, even if I was trying to accelerate, just like if I was driving a stick in 5th gear at 35MPH. I could do it, but I wouldn't expect to accelerate too quickly.

When I drive in full manual mode my car doesn't downshift on its own until I come to a complete stop or to a crawl. But I usually downshift on my own since I'm in that mode for a reason...to control my selection of gears.

If I'm slowing down I really don't mind letting the AT downshift on its own, much smoother that way. If I know I'm going to need to accelerate soon, I'll obviously downshift myself to get in the correct gear, otherwise I don't mind cruising at 35 mph in 5th gear.

It is normal for the AT FRS to behave like this in Manual mode. It downshifts when you come to a stop and there is a distinct speed/rpm cutoff. However, and guys this is a good thing, having it hold a gear at low rpm/mph in manual mode is a good thing. Running a fixed gear Virtual Dyno, or real dyno, on this would be impossible if manual mode didn't hold a gear in the low RPM range.

Maybe you should try to drive it in the same way you should drive a sequential gearbox. Downshift as you slow down, like a motorcycle...so you are always in the right gear.