ive been searching various forums for days and cannot find an answer. when driving a steady speed in the city my rev counter bounces. i noticed it isnt the motor doing it..I already ordered the parts to replace the trans pan and fluid but when i drained the fluid i got maybe 3 quarts..would low fluid cause the wavy rev counter or something else? i get no transmission errors and the check engine light is my secondary air pump flow error

here is a video of what she does

 

mine wasn't that bad, but mine turned out to be the Transmission oil and Torque Converter. I could feel the car jolting when it was doing that, almost like a gear change.

Low trans fluid would make this happen from what I've read, I pressume you followed the procedure to top up a ZF transmission? Its trickier than a standard trans. If you can't feel the jerking I'd probably say its one of the associated sensors though?

All the best, Matt

 

i removed the transmission pan and when i drained the fluid i got right at 3 quarts out so im assuming it was low as most say they get 5-6 quarts out of it. im replacing the pan as i suspect it was leaking. car has an engine oil leak aswell so wasnt sure if trans was leaking or not initially..i just bought the car last week.. i ran diagnostics and i was not getting any trans related errors nor engine besides the secondary air pump first time ive ever seen a wavy rev counter on any vehicle besides when idling.. i hoping when i get my pan and refill it the way kyleB did it in his how to that it fixes that issue..right now im waiting on my new pan and trans fluid from theCTSC.com

 

Hi Matt
Did your car feel like the brakes were being slammed on?

 

Hey Mate,

Yeah just as I was coming to a stop and the transmission engaged first gear the car felt like it hit a brick wall!

 

Whoa, glad you got it figured out. My problem sounds different, not changing gears but feels like i'm slamming on the brakes.

 

That sounds like a slipping torque converter! The transmission is slipping and throwing it up a gear quickly to avoid damage. Change the trans oil and it'll hopefully make it better

 

It usually happens from 3rd gear and up. The gears don't change, RPM's drop about 2000 revs in about half a second then right back up. I think it may be electrical and a product of the passenger airbag failure warning. Mechanics don't think it's transmission related...

 

looks like your torque converter is not locking.

 

would bad ignition coils ignite this irregular rpm problem?