What does yours do?

[DanJetta]

On a level highway, drive 50 MPH and release the gas pedal quickly. Is there a disengage bump? Reapply the pedal quickly to about 50% throttle. Does your transmission engage smoothly or is there another bump? And how many miles are on your transmission?

I'm trying to decide whether my transmission is slowly dying or if this is something inherent in these transmissions.

[ShipFixer]

Sometimes there's a thump. Less than most automatics, worse than a few. I have 97,000 miles but it's always been this way.

Overall this thing shifts smoother and smarter than others, that's one of the reasons I bought it. But if you really want to stress test it do the test you just described while accelerating on a slight incline. That's tough for most automatic transmission brains to figure out...

[skinny2]

Mine does it. Has done it off and on since I bought it with 15k miles. My wifes MDX does something similar. My Suburban does something similar at times. Seems pretty common with these newer 6/7/8 speeds since they're always in a higher gear, particularly at lower speeds.

[DanJetta]

Appreciate the feedback, guys, thanks!

So I did some research and it seems this bumping is called "drivetrain slop" and is apparently a common annoyance (it's a hot topic on Jeep and BMW forums). It may actually have more to do with the differential than the transmission, which is why it's still shifting silky smooth.

Mine feels like someone is tapping my rear bumper every time I take my foot off the gas, which is highly annoying, so this is going to be my pet project for a while.

[nikko7mge]

Mine does it every now and then, especially when the A/C is on. I did a transmission drain and refill (4 quarts). The bump feeling went away, but its now back, just not as frequently.