G37 Transmission Issues with 4th -> 3rd Downshift

[Mike S.]

Ok..i had the update done...and I'll share my thoughts on it soon...but is there a TSB for the "flare" fix?

I mean...the guys at the dealership are going to give me shat if I show up and start telling them about another vague thing...and update my my ecm by the way.

For the record...i still do notice the "flare" after having the tsb done for the downshift and I didn't see anywhere about the ecm being a "prerequsite" for the tsb...but I had the tsb done and its better....but the flare is still there.

Thoughts?

[brynomon]

I didn't notice the flare until today in warmer temperatures. Surprisingly I haven't found a TSB on the flaring. In less than a week after Infiniti made the TSB available to service centers it was avaliable off of the Infiniti TSB site. I don't see anything on the "flare".

[Mockenrue]

Originally Posted by Mike S.

Ok..i had the update done...and I'll share my thoughts on it soon...but is there a TSB for the "flare" fix?

I mean...the guys at the dealership are going to give me shat if I show up and start telling them about another vague thing...and update my my ecm by the way.

For the record...i still do notice the "flare" after having the tsb done for the downshift and I didn't see anywhere about the ecm being a "prerequsite" for the tsb...but I had the tsb done and its better....but the flare is still there.

Thoughts?

The tech who did my update said they had to do the flare flash in order to do the transmission update. I don't have any verification beyond that.

[RotaryRevn]

Originally Posted by brynomon

Of course it won't exist on their system if they haven't performed this before. They need to get the updates. You can have them browse to the infiniti TSB archives at http://www.infiniti-techinfo.com/TSB/TSB_xml/nmsection.aspx?mseries=+G37+(V36)+09. The other poster is right. They should work up their chain if they do not understand any of this or get it, but that would scare me into taking my car elsewhere.

I'm really getting to see the differences in service levels through this whole thread. It's great when a service department listens and cooperates but aggravating to no end when they won't listen because they don't want to believe that a customer would know more than them. My old Nissan dealer never wanted to listen and it turned out there were tons of TSB's on the issues related to my problems. I had a Nissan 04 Maxima SE and that was their worst year ever.

Cerritos CA infinity is horrible!!!! I went there AGAIN (2nd time) regarding the TSB (first time I was turned away by this same lady). The service writer lady knew absolutely nothing about cars. (I personally don't know why she is working there). I give her a detailed description of what the symtoms of the car are to include rough shifting, hard downshifts, engine braking ect. She simply writes "car surging" on my ticket. I had to argue with her for an hour just to convince her to let a tech take my car back. I had the damn official TSB bulleton in my hand after printing it out from here
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=550499 . For some reason, she wanted to argue with me telling me it was not for my car. I have a 2009 g37 sedan. The bulleton says "2009 sport sedan" , the official name for our cars. She kept saying, "you don't have the sports package, this only applies to cars with the sports package". She even called over a salesman infront of me and asked him if my car had the sports package. He also said no, you don't have the sports package, this tsb does not apply. Does that bulleton say sports PACKAGE????!!!! I was begging and pleading for her to please let a tech hook it up to the machine and they will see that the tsb applies. She even said feel free to get a second opinion at another dealership! Anyways, after almost having a coronary, finally she said she would let a tech take it back.

A few hours later, guess what, the TSB was for my car! I bought this car at Cerritos so I figured I'd let them do the service on it. That is absolutely the last time I deal with that service dept. I'm taking it to Mission Viejo from now on. Those service writers at Cerritos are horrible and know nothing about mechanics of a car, or customer service for that matter.

BTW, the car drives like a dream now.

[Riley]

Wow, that's nuts. I'd print up your experience and send it to both the manager of the dealer and infiniti USA. They have a right to know how people are being treated. At least you can get the bitch fired or "fixed".

[njchen24]

Just got both ECM and TCM reprogram. The receipt seems slightly differ from all of you (see attached). Do you think I am getting the right one?

Anyway, I notice the following:

- when going downhill, the harsh engine braking is now gone.
- the acceleration seem to be quicker and smoother.
- the upshift and downshift are also smoother now.
- the engine seems to be quieter when I use DS mode and drive above 5K rpm. Before the reprogram, the engine is roaring like I was in 4th gear.

It is more enjoyable to drive now.

Thank you so much, brynomon for posting this ITB. Without it, I think that I regret my purchase and plan to switch back to the Legacy GT AT when it is available.

[Mockenrue]

For those that had the reflash, is your engine breaking gone, or just reduced? As i said earlier, I supposedly aready have the latest version, but my car still does engine break. If I'm coasting along, when it hits about 30mph it does shift. It's not a rough downshift, but engine breaking is present.

[KLB]

Originally Posted by Mockenrue

For those that had the reflash, is your engine breaking gone, or just reduced? As i said earlier, I supposedly aready have the latest version, but my car still does engine break. If I'm coasting along, when it hits about 30mph it does shift. It's not a rough downshift, but engine breaking is present.

I'd say in that scenario it is gone. It shifts like any other auto would now.

[timcodon]

Originally Posted by Mockenrue

For those that had the reflash, is your engine breaking gone, or just reduced? As i said earlier, I supposedly aready have the latest version, but my car still does engine break. If I'm coasting along, when it hits about 30mph it does shift. It's not a rough downshift, but engine breaking is present.

How is that "supposedly already have latest version"? did you bring your car back to service to get new TSB update installed, and did they do it? or you just a newer car, and it's supposed to have new TSB on it...please be clear. I'm a little dis-appointed to hear this. I have appoiment for tomorrow to have new update, and don't know how it turns out...I really wish my car will drive different way than it currently is. The engine braking is quite ennoying...

[MaxdOut]

Originally Posted by Mockenrue

The tech who did my update said they had to do the flare flash in order to do the transmission update. I don't have any verification beyond that.

I have not had the time to get the TSB done but would it be possible for you to ask the tech exactly what the 'Flare Flash' is or what has to de done for it?

[saltfish]

Originally Posted by Mockenrue

For those that had the reflash, is your engine breaking gone, or just reduced? As i said earlier, I supposedly aready have the latest version, but my car still does engine break. If I'm coasting along, when it hits about 30mph it does shift. It's not a rough downshift, but engine breaking is present.

I personally haven't really noticed any engine braking when in D. The only time i notice engine braking is when i'm in manual mode and rev the engine to about 6k and then release the throttle.

With the update just know that the car will not coast forever, it will downshift to a lower gear depending on current gear, vehicle speed, rpm level and throttle input. I'm not sure how the transmission logic is programmed, however these are some of the things i have observed.

While in manual mode i noticed that:
The car will not upshift to a higher gear if the rpm is not above 2k.
The car will downshift by itself if you are in the highest possible gear (this depends on vehicle speed) and the rpm drops to 1k or below. This is with your foot off the pedal and having the car coast.

So based off those observations one can only assume that its behaving similar when in D its being conservative. Depending on throttle input, upshift as soon possible (2k) and if rpm drops below 1k downshift to next available gear. With an aggressive throttle input then it will more likely upshift later at around 4k. A similar logic is more likely applied when in DS only difference being the rpm at which the shifts happen and throttle input.

My premise is that prior to the update the car was downshifting too soon (before 1k rpm).

[ryanxpxmode]

Just got the update at CERRITOS,CA infiniti dealer.
This is what i've been waiting for the past couple of months.
The jerkiness is gone and the decelerating is smooth.
It's like learning to drive a new car since I got so used to trying to accomodate for the jerkiness around 20mph.
I read about the other guy having problems at cerritos infiniti, but my experience was very good.
Phil Tucker, who's the service manager was very courteous and helpful with my issue. He actually called to let me know that the TSB had been released for this problem. Props to Phil.
Anyhow, anyone with this jerky problem, take your car in to the dealer ASAP. =)

[Mockenrue]

Originally Posted by timcodon

How is that "supposedly already have latest version"? did you bring your car back to service to get new TSB update installed, and did they do it? or you just a newer car, and it's supposed to have new TSB on it...please be clear. I'm a little dis-appointed to hear this. I have appoiment for tomorrow to have new update, and don't know how it turns out...I really wish my car will drive different way than it currently is. The engine braking is quite ennoying...

He showed me with his laptop plugged in that the only update that my car could take was the ECM flare update. He said my TCM version was higher than the one with the TCM downshift update. I was surprised by this since I bought my car in May so I had him call the home office tech to confirm. He said it just reduces engine breaking, but it's still there. When the ECM was finished, the system said I was fully up-to-date. He put a report into "fix" saying that I still had the symptom, so who knows?

[KLB]

Originally Posted by Mike S.

Ok..i had the update done...and I'll share my thoughts on it soon...but is there a TSB for the "flare" fix?

I mean...the guys at the dealership are going to give me shat if I show up and start telling them about another vague thing...and update my my ecm by the way.

For the record...i still do notice the "flare" after having the tsb done for the downshift and I didn't see anywhere about the ecm being a "prerequsite" for the tsb...but I had the tsb done and its better....but the flare is still there.

Thoughts?

I have it too. If the car is warm, the first time I get to 40 or so, there is a surge in RPMs then it shifts. After that it is normal. Very odd.

[HoustonG37]

KLB, I've noticed the same thing. Is this what everyone is refering to when they're talking about "flare"??