[Donte Lindsey]

Well, I've had 6 different Chrysler products with automatics over the last 46 years, and a million miles - 2 3-spd Torquflites, a 4-spd A-500, and 3 6-spd 62TEs. Never once did any of them shift 'clunky', especially on downshift, unless there was a serious fluid leak. Your experience may vary.

Yes it seems experience does vary and none of them had any leakage. Quite reliable just clunked when slowing down.

 

[Elroy the Brave]

Yes it seems experience does vary and none of them had any leakage. Quite reliable just clunked when slowing down.

I had the same exact experience. The 2008 Town and Country that had the 62te was significantly worse shifting than the the 2013 Chrysler 200. But even then the 2013 Chrysler 200 clunked when slowing down. I even changed an engine mount in the car because I thought that might be the problem, but no, it was just a quirk of the 62te. Not to fault the 62te too hard, though, because it was at least been reliable in both vehicles.

But overall I am much more impressed with the ZF designed 9-Speed. Shifts are a lot quicker, and smoother.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

I had the same exact experience. The 2008 Town and Country that had the 62te was significantly worse shifting than the the 2013 Chrysler 200. But even then the 2013 Chrysler 200 clunked when slowing down. I even changed an engine mount in the car because I thought that might be the problem, but no, it was just a quirk of the 62te. Not to fault the 62te too hard, though, because it was at least been reliable in both vehicles.

But overall I am much more impressed with the ZF designed 9-Speed. Shifts are a lot quicker, and smoother.

We've had 3spd, 4spd,5spd and the 6spd Chrysler automatics and they all have had that clunk. My Sebring (05 and late grandma's 07) both have it. The zf seemed confused when I test drove it. It seems better in V6 models. I told myself that I would let Chrysler get the kinks out since every car company that had that transmission was having issues. Welp Sergio killed the 200 and I don't need or want a jeep or a minivan so I went with another brand.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

If some of us never experienced it, then it was not inherent in the design, or the production of all of the transmissions. It means that either some of us are overly sensitive, or not sensitive, or that some variability in the field exists. As I said, one million miles in these cars, with various automatics, and the ONLY clunking ever was using the Autostick and letting it downshift 2-1 in that mode. And by clunk I mean the feel of it, no noise at all. All other modes and patterns, Chrysler automatics have shifted as smoothly as butter for me, and in other cars I've driven but not owned.

 

[Adventurer55]

If some of us never experienced it, then it was not inherent in the design, or the production of all of the transmissions. It means that either some of us are overly sensitive, or not sensitive, or that some variability in the field exists. As I said, one million miles in these cars, with various automatics, and the ONLY clunking ever was using the Autostick and letting it downshift 2-1 in that mode. And by clunk I mean the feel of it, no noise at all. All other modes and patterns, Chrysler automatics have shifted as smoothly as butter for me, and in other cars I've driven but not owned.

There were other issues over the years but clunking, at least for me wasn't an issue. Also, I don't care whose design the 8sp is, it's the best shifting transmission I've ever had in a Chrysler product.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

I honestly don't care that you put a million miles on a a bunch of Chrysler cars. The fact is other people besides me have experienced the same quirk that I have so it's not something that is isolated.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

There were other issues over the years but clunking, at least for me wasn't an issue. Also, I don't care whose design the 8sp is, it's the best shifting transmission I've ever had in a Chrysler product.

The 8spd is amazing.

 

[valiant67]

I have experienced low speed clunking in three vehicles.
1990 Chrysler Imperial, A604. Around 150k miles. Updated TCM took care of it just like the TSB said it would. It was called bump shift.
2018 Jeep Cherokee 2.4, 9 speed, AWD - Severe low speed rough shifts on occasion around 18k miles. The only time it stopped was when a new PCM was installed and they did a Proxi? alignment? It came back soon after.
2018 Jeep renegade 2.4, 9 speed, AWD - Same symptom as the Cherokee around the same mileage Again no permanent fix.

 

[Doug D]

Let's see - I've had 5 A413's, one 41TE, one 545RFE, one 727 (or whatever was in a '65 Dart (3-speed), and not one of them "clunked" and only one failed (an A413 in a '92 Acclaim - clutches wore out at 191K miles). Probably 1 million miles collectively among all of them.

I honestly don't care that you put a million miles on a a bunch of Chrysler cars. The fact is other people besides me have experienced the same quirk that I have so it's not something that is isolated.

But that doesn't mean everyone experienced the clunking as evident from several posts in this thread. Probably only a small percentage.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

Let's see - I've had 5 A413's, one 41TE, one 545RFE, one 727 (or whatever was in a '65 Dart (3-speed), and not one of them "clunked" and only one failed (an A413 in a '92 Acclaim - clutches wore out at 191K miles). Probably 1 million miles collectively among all of them.


But that doesn't mean everyone experienced the clunking as evident from several posts in this thread. Probably only a small percentage.

That's pretty obvious that everyone hadn't had that happen but others have had it happen.

 

[page2171]

The transmission in my 2012 Grand Caravan has been pretty smooth except for the 2-1 shift, which can be pretty clunky. My complaint with it is the unpredictable shifting. Put the go pedal down and sometimes it will downshift a couple gears and take of like shot out of a cannon, other times it will hang out in a high gear and leisurely accelerate.

I had a Pacifica as a rental recently (I had reserved a compact, but was given a choice from 30 or so Pacificas), and was pleasantly surprised at how much better it drove than our Grand Caravan. Smooth shifts, smooth acceleration, predictable shifts... really impressive.

 

[ImperialCrown]

New software release in 2015 for 2012 RT.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

I honestly don't care that you put a million miles on a a bunch of Chrysler cars. The fact is other people besides me have experienced the same quirk that I have so it's not something that is isolated.

I never said it was isolated. Neither is my experience isolated. Go back and read my post again.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

I never said it was isolated. Neither is my experience isolated. Go back and read my post again.

I'm not reading anything again. You pretty much disagreed with what I was saying like it was something I made up. Like I stated before I don't care about your experience. You're comments are condescending and you come off as a know-it-all.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Then you didn't read it, and you deliberately don't want to understand what I'm saying. There's nothing condescending in my posts. We have different experiences, and there is no data to give any weight to either experience as a general trend.

 

[Donte Lindsey]

You are condescending and if you had no data to approach the topic why even reply to me as if I'm the only one that has had this issue? Please stop it. You laughing at my previous comment is condescending and you're a moderator on this blog wait a super moderator. How professional. 🤦🏽

 

[Doug D]

"Well, I've had 6 different Chrysler products with automatics over the last 46 years, and a million miles - 2 3-spd Torquflites, a 4-spd A-500, and 3 6-spd 62TEs. Never once did any of them shift 'clunky', especially on downshift, unless there was a serious fluid leak. Your experience may vary. "

I don't see anything condescending in these statements. Bob simply stated his experience over the last 46 years and a million miles of driving Chrysler products. It's one data point and Donte's experience is another data point - both are anecdotal.

 

[valiant67]

The truth is these modern transmissions are adaptive. The old RWD 3 speed Torqueflites were not. This all started with the Ultradrive in 1989.
An adaptive transmission can behave one way for one person and differently for another simply because of different driving habits.

 

[mopar4wd]

The 6-speed in my town and country is fine most of the time but does some weird shifts sometimes starting on hills(original transmission and replacement have done it). Haven't really noticed a clunk slowing down. The 9 speed in the pool Pacifica at work does some weirdness at low speeds and has some clunking but nothing deal-breaking.
Overall my experience with Mopar transmissions has been the shift better than most of the competition. My Outback with a 4 speed auto annoyed the heck out of me. Just awful. Same with a number of Ford rentals and some H and K rentals. My wifes Honda was really annoying until we changed the fluid. It's better now but still has some weird shifts when slowing down. After driving other cars it was amazing how smooth the torque flights and ultradrives i've owned were.

 

[13 200 3.6]

My experience with 1 41TE, 4 42LE, 3 A413 are that Chrysler automatics are very smooth. The only time the ultradrives were firner was when being driven aggressively. I don't recall how my father's 2 A604 drove other than their failing reverse. The 4 62TE transmissions I have driven feel completely different even from each other. I don't know what the Daimler did to it but they screwed it up royally.

Why do you consider Hyundai and Aisin units to be just okay vs ZF to be a slam dunk? I get the success of the HP8 but the HP 9 has been reliving the ultradrive all over again. I wish they would have used Aisin for the FWD models as far as I am concerned they have all been successful. ZF has 1 of 3 (remember the unit in the Premier had trouble as well and it was a ZF as well).