2022 CX-5 Transmission - RPMs drop between 2nd and 3rd gear

[yrwei52]

Just wanted to post an update for anyone interested now or in the future.

It's been about a year now since I've decided to go through with the transmission replacement after they've concluded there to be some sort of "internal failure" with the torque converter lock up clutch or solenoid (they weren't being very transparent and this is all the info I got).
Ended up getting a rebuilt one shipped from Mazda as a replacement. Took about 2 or 3 weeks for it to arrive, then one weekend with my mazda to have it replaced and tested. This was all covered under warranty so nothing spent out of pocket.

It's been almost a year now and there has been absolutely no more funky business and the torque converter lock up has been buttery smooth, no more weird jerks or jolts during lock up.

One thing I'd like to mention though.
When I first received the car, shifting between park, neutral, and drive felt super rough and would send a jolt through the cabin. They said this was normal and would smoothen out and that I should give the new bushings/mounts time to break in. Gave it 2 weeks and nothing changed.
Asked if they did a transmission reset and they said yes. Decided to do it myself (following the same video as one posted above this post), and that issue completely dissappeared and hasn't popped up again. Super happy with everything right now.

I would like to say that the Mazda master tech at the dealership did mention seeing this issue with atleast a handful of other mazdas that all got replacements too. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Thanks for the update and I was surprised the dealer apparently didn’t follow the official steps to properly reset the rebuilt transmission. Glad you took the reset step by yourself and resolved the issues with your new transmission.

You’re a very few lucky ones that the MNAO had stepped up and replaced your original transmission.

 

[yrwei52]

A few months ago I noticed that when I am accelerating from the full stop:
1. the RPMs are increasing uniformly up to 2200-2300 and then transmission ideally shifts to the second gear and RPMs drop for the next gear.
2. The same happens between the 2nd and 3rd gears, but when the RPMs arrow reaches 2000 and transmission is going to shift in 2-3 seconds - at this moment the RPMs sharply drop up to 1500 (no strange sounds or jerks), and immediately are continuing to rise again up to 2200-2300 and then transmission smoothly shifts to the 3rd gear.
If I am accelerating slowly or too quickly it never happens.
Has anyone experienced or heard about something similar, how suspicious it could be?
I recently reset/re-learned the transmission, but this continues to happen.
CX-5 2022 N/A

You have a different automatic transmission with cylinder deactivation in your 2022 CX-5 2.5L NA. The different single plate lock-up clutch pack, used due to the space used by the added fulcrum inside the torque converter to fight against the vibration from CD, seems to be having excessive wear prematurely and contaminates thr ATF by iron powder. Your problem could also be related by contaminated ATF.

2017~2024 CX-5 Chirp Noise from Automatic Transaxle on 3-4 upshift - Bulletin 05-005/23

This has been an issue for a little bit. The CD cars do not have the same lockup wet clutch set as the regular skyactivs do. They use a more traditional single clutch with a more aggressive material to survive early lockup. Many oems that have tried early lockup with this style of clutch experience significant issues and early wear. GM with the 6L80/90 family are the most notorious for this. The clutch set that turns on going into 4th is a more aggressive friction material that is already high metal content. The iron contaminates that set and is similar to what happens with a brake pad that becomes contaminated and makes a squealing sound.

Yep, the pendulum damper is built into the torque converter and because of its size there is no room for the multi plate lockup clutch set that the non CD cars have.View attachment 324785

 

[Cloud6]

Thanks for the update and I was surprised the dealer apparently didn’t follow the official steps to properly reset the rebuilt transmission. Glad you took the reset step by yourself and resolved the issues with your new transmission.

You’re a very few lucky ones that the MNAO had stepped up and replaced your original transmission.

They did say a reset was done as per official protocol. Perhaps it's a combination of the 2 week break in followed by another reset that ironed out all the kinks with the new transmission.

And yes I do consider myself lucky. The mazda dealership I go to has been beyond exceptional. Its honestly one of the bigger things keeping me with Mazda. It's the only dealership I've seen where the service manager is constantly involved in the shop getting his hands dirty working on what he calls fun puzzles. Super passionate folk.
Plus he did say they're on the larger side volume wise in the region and do have a decent amount of push with MNAO.

 

[GFrosty]

I’d recommend trying this reset procedure first. Mazda Transmission Reset

This procedure worked nicely, for me.

2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD. Followed the steps, and the sluggish-shifting behaviors all got zapped. It's now zippier when attempting to accelerate a bit more, and it'll downshift appropriately whenever I push it just a tad more. Not quite as reactive as the "Sport" mode (nor should it be). All poor and sluggish responsiveness has disappeared. All "lugging" situations have disappeared. Gearing properly downshifts whenever I imagine it should be doing so, whenever modestly depressing the throttle. Have only driven it about 40mins since the change, but it's vastly improved.

Many thanks for posting that procedure reference.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I’d recommend trying this reset procedure first. Mazda Transmission Reset

I decided to give it a try again recently, after a few failed attempts last year. Got it this time on the first try.

This was the first time my 313,000km transmission has been reset. The shifts were initially a bit firmer, and the shift points changed a little, but I hardly noticed any difference after about 10 minutes of driving. I'm impressed to see how well the car sticks to its default shift strategy and operates smoothly (In a best case scenario) for a fairly extensive driving period.


It relearned very quickly! Although, I am extremely observant and careful to follow the vehicles desired shift points.

My transmission has been thoroughly maintained and mostly treated nicely.

It's a good idea to do a reset every so often.

 

[ColtX-5]

Watched the video. I don't see or hear anything unusual. By definition, an upshift drops engine RPM. 2200 down to 1500 seems totally expected. I *think* mine does that kind of thing all the time. The video didn't show a 2200 to 1500 drop, closer to 2200 to 1700, a 23% RPM drop and absolutely expected from a 2-3 upshift.

The CX-5's tranny has widely spaced gear ratios (too wide).

 

[Lazy2.5]

The CX-5's tranny has widely spaced gear ratios (too wide).

Yes, I agree.

The manual transmission is geared the same from 1-3, but 4,5,6 is shorter.

While more gears more closely spaced together would be better for sure, the gearing is very well suited to the way the engine intends to operate (Get up to speed, then cruise between 1250-1750rpm)

Even the Camry 2.5 with its 8 speed auto is not geared very differently. It works well for its intended use.

 

[anurasont]

Hey, made an account just for this.
I unfortunately don't have an answer to this, but feel like I may be experiencing the same issue with my 2018 6 2.5T.
See video Watch Harsh torque converter lockup in 2nd gear | Streamable

Is that what you're talking about? Cause I've been having this issue for probably over 3 years now.
If it is, it's interesting you're having this problem with a nonTurbo as the dealership I went to for it suspected it was Turbo related.

Did you ever figure out what was causing it?

I have exactly the same issue on my 2020 CX-30 NA and it drops more prominently in the 3rd gear. I took it to Mazda today and they say that there are no errors on the freesteram and the tech who took it on a test drive says everything is shifting normally. I took them out on a test drive and showed them but they are not accepting the fault, they say that it is shifting normally.

When I insisted that is not how it should shift, they said that they will email mazda and see what they say. But they mentioned that if there are no error codes or anything they would not do anything.

I read through this thread and did a transmission memory reset as well. It did not fix the issue.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I have exactly the same issue on my 2020 CX-30 NA and it drops more prominently in the 3rd gear. I took it to Mazda today and they say that there are no errors on the freesteram and the tech who took it on a test drive says everything is shifting normally. I took them out on a test drive and showed them but they are not accepting the fault, they say that it is shifting normally.

When I insisted that is not how it should shift, they said that they will email mazda and see what they say. But they mentioned that if there are no error codes or anything they would not do anything.

I read through this thread and did a transmission memory reset as well. It did not fix the issue.

Watch Harsh torque converter lockup in 2nd gear | Streamable - In this link, the torque converter lock-up you see in second gear is perfectly normal. Unless your transmission is jerking significantly while that is happening, then I agree 100% with the technicians who saw and drove your car; there is nothing wrong with your transmission.

If it is too jerky for you, the best thing to do is to apply less throttle in that scenario.