Shifting Question

[nate239]

I have recently purchased a 1985 Maxima in almost mint cond. I have a question on the shift patterns. When I am cruising down the highway and touch the brake pedal, the car immediately shifts down one gear and revs to about 3000. It seems to downshift similar to a manual transmission. It will eventually shift up again if I continue driving at highway speeds. Is this normal?

[maximase86]

Interesting....I've never had that happen before...not sure why the car would do that. Someone with an auto here might be able to better answer this.

S

[wylie-c]

It sounds like it's downshifting back to 3rd. I know they will lockup/unlock the torque converter at highway speeds when you get on or off the gas, but the rpm difference is only about 500. What speeds/rpm's are all the upshifts/downshifts happening at during regular driving? It might be an incorrectly adjusted kickdown cable, which will make it rev higher before upshifting and also make it downshift kind of like a standard. I purposely set mine to do that, but if no one has been tinkering with it it shouldn't be.

[nate239]

It revs around 2000 at 100 kph (62mph). When it downshifts, I think it hits about 2800 - 2900. All downshifting seems to be done a bit soon, and upshifting a bit later than normal. I don't have the exact rpms just now. You can notice each downshift just like a manual tranny. The fluid looks and smells ok, so I really don't think there's anything wrong with the tranny.

I guess I was just wondering if this was an option on these cars because it performs much more like a manual. It sounds like it might be doing what yours is.