I have had the partial throttle growling issue since 400 miles and it has progressively gotten worse. Talked to the dealer around 1500 miles and he said to allow a break-in period. Had to go to South Florida for some family issues and now have 8000 miles on it and, guess what... It ain't gone away. How are you guys getting the dealerships to install the new STAR case TC?? Just took mine in to the dealer yesterday and guess what they said... There's nothing wrong with the transmission. They looked at me like I was stupid when I mentioned the TSB flash for the PCM and the STAR case TC. They said my vehicle was not affected by the TSB because of when it was made. I've about had it with this crap... unless someone can give me the secret to how to motivate this dealership, I am about to pull the tranny and rebuild it myself... my way... with a good aftermarket TC. Does anyone have the best recommended aftermarket TC?
Now on to the new problem. Don't know if anyone else is having issues like this or even if it is related to the partial throttle rattling issue, but my 3rd gear is pretty much non-existent. Automatic won't ever shift into third. It either bogs down in 4th or launches your a$$ into outer space as it shifts into 2nd. In the manual bump to shift mode, when you shift from 2nd to 3rd, the RPM's only drop 200 RPM, regardless of where you are on the powerband. Run her up to 2000, it drops to 1800... run her up to 3000, it drops to 2800...run it up to 5000, it drops to 4800, in which case you have to quickly bump into 4th to keep from holding high RPM's. Doesn't happen in either other gear. It even keeps the 200 RPM shift whether you're manually shifting up or down. Drop her from 4th to 3rd, RPM's will jump as expected, but to a much higher RPM than you would expect for a single shift, now you would think that shifting down again to 2nd would be unwise... but no worries. The shift to second only gives you another 200 RPM. When the dealer told me that was normal, I promptly asked him to get the keys to any new truck on the lot and if there is nothing wrong with my transmission, it should do the same thing. He said that he couldn't allow that without going through sales. So, I'm heading in tomorrow morning to get with the Sales Manager to get a new truck off the lot and he and I and the Service Manager are all going for a ride to see if it behaves "normally" like mine.
I'll keep you posted, but I think we all know how it's gonna turn out...
Now on to the new problem. Don't know if anyone else is having issues like this or even if it is related to the partial throttle rattling issue, but my 3rd gear is pretty much non-existent. Automatic won't ever shift into third. It either bogs down in 4th or launches your a$$ into outer space as it shifts into 2nd. In the manual bump to shift mode, when you shift from 2nd to 3rd, the RPM's only drop 200 RPM, regardless of where you are on the powerband. Run her up to 2000, it drops to 1800... run her up to 3000, it drops to 2800...run it up to 5000, it drops to 4800, in which case you have to quickly bump into 4th to keep from holding high RPM's. Doesn't happen in either other gear. It even keeps the 200 RPM shift whether you're manually shifting up or down. Drop her from 4th to 3rd, RPM's will jump as expected, but to a much higher RPM than you would expect for a single shift, now you would think that shifting down again to 2nd would be unwise... but no worries. The shift to second only gives you another 200 RPM. When the dealer told me that was normal, I promptly asked him to get the keys to any new truck on the lot and if there is nothing wrong with my transmission, it should do the same thing. He said that he couldn't allow that without going through sales. So, I'm heading in tomorrow morning to get with the Sales Manager to get a new truck off the lot and he and I and the Service Manager are all going for a ride to see if it behaves "normally" like mine.
I'll keep you posted, but I think we all know how it's gonna turn out...