2014 Elantra delayed shift 4th to 5th

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Sep 26, 2002
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Central Arkansastan
I have a 2014 Elantra, 117K, runs great generally. When normal driving, no shift issues. I take a trip once a month to Kansas City from Little Rock.This goes through the Ozark "hills". When the car starts up these hills it downshifts as needed to the appropriate gear, which is usually from 6th to 5th. When its alittle steeper, 4th. The issue I have is when I crest the hill, and either remain level or start downhill, it delays the upshift out of fourth for quite some time. 10-15 seconds at times.If I manually shift it, it is immediate. It seems to only do this when I take a really long trip, doesn't do it on my daily drive to work, etc. Its only the 4th to 5th, works normally from 5th to 6th. Fluid has been changed twice, once at 70K, and again at 100K, using OE SP-lV-M.Other than that, the car shifts normally and when its supposed to. Any one have an idea? (Level check is good). It has done this for awhile (about 40K), and has simply been a nuisance, but lately the time lag seems to be getting longer.
 
Has the filter been change with one those 2 fluid changes? Also were the changes just a pan dump or a 100% fluid change?
 
Filter is inaccessible without complete teardown.1st fluid change showed no metal chunks, or excessive flakes, 2nd was way cleaner. Changes were pan dumps. Fluid looked and smelled good on both drains.
 
Did it not do this before? Because this sounds to me like the car is sensing the load and holding the gear to save on shifts in case you continue uphill. I have driven some cars that do and others that don't. It may be normal unless you are sure it didn't do it before. I have a 98 Buick that does this and a 97 Pontiac that doesn't, all in the programming. Unless it didn't do this before, I don't think you are having an issue. Especially since you have maintained it properly.
 
Sounds like "Fuzzy logic" eg it wants to engine-brake. Maybe the thinner air of the hills has it working harder and believing the hills are "steeper".
 
How long have you had the car? Has it always done this? I've owned and driven several cars that do this and it was part of its grade logic anticipating more inclines.
 
I don't know if that car has adaptive trans learning, but for a Hail Mary, pull the battery cable for 15 minutes the night before you do the Ozarks and see if that helps. SP4-M is a quality ATF or at least it was. I had Hyundai documentation it was Ester based and then they pulled the document about a year after I found it.

I filtered my 2013Hyundai Elantra GT , my wife's Rav 4 (Redline D6) and my daughter Honda Civic (MaxLife) with this filter. And my daughter who is Gen Z who is ablivous to anything but a phone said she noticed that after I put filter on her car shifted faster and just plain better. It was another filter brand at the time (NTZ TransProtector) I too noticed the difference in the Elantra too. Because the filter filters down to 15 micron, the ATF solenoids move more freely and faster. Ryabestos copied the outside of the filter and it has a crappy common pleated filter in it. So I would ONLY trust ones coming from Russel Transmission Order your from the designer/tester. Rumor has it he sold the patent to Transmaxx, but I can't find this filter from them. You can then from Russel Transmission below. This IS the best $25-50 filter on the market. They say switch out at 30,000 miles. I switch the first one at 10,000 miles to get the oil filtered and THEN do the 30,000 mile run so I know I have good flow.


http://www.russellautoinc.com/about-us.aspx


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OK, I tried some lubegard red in it, about 500 miles ago. I cannot use Maxlife, as I have used it in a sonata I had and it didn't work that well. For these, I stick with SP-lV. I have had the car since new. I didn't have this issue when new, it has slowly progressed over the miles.I don't use the cruise going on hills, as It will run the snot out of the car trying to keep speed. Perhaps it is anticipating, it just seems once the gas pedal is let up, it should shift much quicker, as it does from 5th to 6th. I wil try the battery cable removal, it is an adaptive transmission.
 
I had similar thing, Forte would stay in 4th longer.
Drain and fill with MaxLife was an instant fix. This D/F was due, and I do D/Fs every 30K miles.
 
Originally Posted by dave1251
Drain and fill with Lubegard and Maxlife ATF. You may add another 3 or 4 years to your AT.

I second this idea.......
LG is some great stuff to help those shift solenoids.
 
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