Shifts are soft and slow

[Kuhndog-11]

So my 14 Tahoe is a slick suv. Love the thing. Just a couple things I genuinely hate though. First is the AFM which is easy enough to solve with a tune. Second is the awful shifting these things have. I got 61k on this thing and bought it at 48k. The shifting is so slow under light throttle it's insane. I like a nice firm shift but it seems GM made these really soft. Literally feels like shifting a manual trans with the lag. I changed the fluid and filter with ACdelco stuff at 50k. Shifting hasn't gotten worse since the service but hasn't gotten better. Is there anyway to make these shifts a bit quicker? And I'm talking like the time it takes to go from 2nd gear to 3rd gear for example. I think I could get that through blackbear tuning but not sure.

 

[iamdub]

So my 14 Tahoe is a slick suv. Love the thing. Just a couple things I genuinely hate though. First is the AFM which is easy enough to solve with a tune. Second is the awful shifting these things have. I got 61k on this thing and bought it at 48k. The shifting is so slow under light throttle it's insane. I like a nice firm shift but it seems GM made these really soft. Literally feels like shifting a manual trans with the lag. I changed the fluid and filter with ACdelco stuff at 50k. Shifting hasn't gotten worse since the service but hasn't gotten better. Is there anyway to make these shifts a bit quicker? And I'm talking like the time it takes to go from 2nd gear to 3rd gear for example. I think I could get that through blackbear tuning but not sure.

Yes- get a good tune ASAP. These transmissions die an early death from the excessively cushy shift programming. Just cleaning up this mess, alone, will make it feel like a new, more powerful animal as well as prolonging the life of the trans.


...Of course, if you already have considerable wear or something else wrong, that should be addressed first. I'm no trans or tuning expert by any means. But, I think a trans shop can at least determine if anything's amiss before you get a tune. Maybe they can activate the shift solenoids manually and study the response time or something like that. You might just have a lazy solenoid(s).

 

[Joseph Garcia]

^^x2^^ Before you get any tune, get that transmission checked out, first. From the way that you describe it, I believe that you have an issue with the transmission.

 

[Kuhndog-11]

I just now got notified of your posts. Only a month late lol. I may be exaggerating how slow it shifts. It's not all that slow just not as quick and firm as I would like. The first thing that would indicate worn clutches is obviously dark and burnt smelling fluid. Nothing there. I changed it at 50k and I assume that was original fluid. It is nice and red at 61k. No indication of worn clutches. It shifts like any other stock tahoe or burb. Is black bear the way to go?

 

[iamdub]

I just now got notified of your posts. Only a month late lol. I may be exaggerating how slow it shifts. It's not all that slow just not as quick and firm as I would like. The first thing that would indicate worn clutches is obviously dark and burnt smelling fluid. Nothing there. I changed it at 50k and I assume that was original fluid. It is nice and red at 61k. No indication of worn clutches. It shifts like any other stock tahoe or burb. Is black bear the way to go?

BB is the default go-to for getting these things where they should be. I'm sure there are plenty of other tunes that know just as well, but you'd have to find them by word of mouth. BB is all over the forums. If you're not in a hurry, they can get you fixed up. If you're impatient, it doesn't cost you anything but time to browse the forums for other candidates. You might even find someone local to you that can do an in-person tune. These engines and transmissions aren't some obscure and mysterious machines that only a few people have figured out. Their slow and cushy shifting and throttle responses are widely known and so are the remedies. I guess that's to say that you might really should be searching for who NOT to tune it.