I don't have an auto transmission, know virtually nothing about them except for the few I had were expensive to repair and kept having the same kind of problems after x-number of miles, so I went to the manual transmission to be rid of the headaches associated to the 'gear searching'.
Having said that, I thought I would share a little story from a friend. He had a Dodge 2500 with a V10 and an auto transmission. I think it was a 2000 year model. He was one of those not so lucky guys that had a lot of transmission problems, many, many times. I think they replaced his transmission 3 times and worked on it so many times I lost count. When he asked the tech at his dealership WHY this was such a chronic problem his answer was - This model transmission is set up to work at certain pressures, it really was not a truck transmission, they really needed to design a heavier duty transmission that could take the loads/torque that trucks are worked at. He went on to say that it was more of a design for light duty than heavy duty so under loads it worked much harder than it was designed. He inferred that truck guys were on the throttle more, that's why it shifted so hard. Well, my friend was/is what I would call a medium pedal guy, into it, but not WOT stuff. I do not think the billet market was as developed then as it is today, but they did put some kind of VB into it and a few other things too.
So as time has gone on here, the newer trannys seem to be stronger, better shifts under load and pressures, more of a real truck transmission. It almost seems as though they have designed them for the medium pedal guy (or gal) to a heavier pedal driving style.
Now throw the more light pedal user into this, and all this 'gear searching' taking place. The older trannys seemed more suited to the light pedal user, more conservative driver, shifted smoothly with this style of driving habits. The newer trannys are more of a truck transmission, designed for heavier working loads, shift at higher pressures, etc - real workhorses, so when you drive more light pedal they search for gears more.
Just an observation out of me here. I have driven a new auto transmission, test drove it when I decided on my standard transmission. I did notice a little searching when I was light into the pedal, did not search when I was more agressive. At that test drive I wondered if that searching would go away after some miles and break-in. Guess not as it seems to continue doing the same after some miles.
You guys are lucky to have an aftermarket like you do today, at least these issues CAN be worked out to your satisfaction.
CD
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