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Transmission often makes bump, clunk or thud noise when changing Gears..

15K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  ChryslerPacificaFan 
#1 ·
Recently noticed a bumping noise when the gears change, especially when shifting out of Park into Drive or Reverse and sometimes while driving. It's as if the transmission is under a lot of pressure or there is a loose linkage in there somewhere. So the transmission is functioning properly when driving just this occasional clunking noise when changing Gears. I drive with a heavy foot so even the slightest stalls bother me especially driving the very busy fast Freeway. Our Pacifica has around 22,000 miles on it so it's still under Warranty and I intend to take into Service Dept. I just want to know if any other owners out there are or have experienced this bumping noise when the gears change.
 
#2 ·
The clunk from Park to Drive or Reverse may be from torque-lock. Setting the parking brake when parking even on the slightest incline may relieve that issue. If it happens while driving, do you happen to notice at approx what speed/gear it is happening at? There are a couple of dog-clutches in this transmission that can sound/feel different than the other shifts if you're not used to them. You mentioned having 22k miles on your ride. If you put all of those miles on there from new then the dog-clutches obviously shouldn't be the issue as you would've gotten used to those shifts by now.
 
#4 ·
Mine does the same, specially at low speed in heavy traffic or city, seems to be around 2nd gear to 3rd.
Mine is a Touring 2017.
There are several transmission threads that have more info than this one. Here are a couple posts from some threads if you are interested.

My van's transmission adaptations have been reset twice before I took the van in recently for a more thorough transmission reset. At around 44,000 miles the service department was instructed by Chrysler technicians to adjust the filling time of the clutches to about 10 or more. This took a few days driving and resetting something. I don't think any parts were changed, just reprogrammed somehow. The van is shifting smoothly again. Try to get a case # from Chrysler and have the service department talk to the Chrysler techs. Even if I have to take the van in again, it is nice having the van shift smoothly in between times.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Thanks, Sci.

This post was the first I found based on the search criteria...

Anyway have you noticed if this issue started after one of the first recalls, if I remember well, the power train one.
From the beginning the transmission didn't shift as well as I would have hoped. There was a transmission TSB that helped so that all I eventually noticed was the 15 mph jolt occasionally. A service advisor suggested clearing transmission adaptations which lasted for around 10,000 miles. So when it started happening again, I had adaptations reset again which lasted for about 14,000 miles. At about 44,000 miles the jolt returned and I contacted Chrysler who had technicians talk to the dealer about trying to adjust clutch? filling time mentioned in a previous post. All is well for now.

I haven't had the Sept 2019 UCONNECT update (which is unlikely to affect transmission issues) yet.
 
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