I've had my 03 S-Type R for about a month now. I had a 98 XJR, but got into a car accident and it was totaled. So far I'm loving the STR. Handling is way better and it "feels" better to drive than the xjr. However, I have noticed that 1st gear shifts to 2nd at around 5500 rather than 6-6.1k rpm. This is confirmed by most reviews that I've seen.

But i did find this:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=714002

Notice post #24

In efforts to try to get my car shifting closer to red-line, I tried to duplicate Flexall's recommendation. I disconnected the battery, then reconnected it. Then i proceeded to take the car out for several hard acceleration runs with trac off and sport on. The first couple of runs it actually hit the rev limiter in 1st gear and 2nd... accompanied by much wheel-spin. But after a few runs it went back to shifting at 5500. Anyone else wanna try it or give some thoughts? Thanks

 

I've noticed this too, drives me crazy.

I even used the J-Gate once to try to wrap out 2nd gear instead of shifting at 5800. I ended up hitting a limiter at 5900 very disappointed.

If I could figure out how to get this thing to shift at 6000-6100 every gear it would be a good bit quicker.

 

I had a 2003 STR and now a 2005. The '03, despite multiple ECU reflashes, always shifted around 5,500 - 5,600 and if I remember correctly, 2nd gear short shifted as well; i.e. around 5,800 - 5,900.

The '05 on the other hand appears to shift close enough to redline in 1st that I have a difficult time discerning if is or not. Re: 2nd - it definitely hits redline or just shy.

Can anyone else confirm if the "later" years have a different shift pattern?

I'll open it up tomorrow to confirm.

Best,
Eric

 

Eric, are you sure its not the newer style gauges leading you to believe otherwise ?


Another Erik

 

thanks for the responses guys.

during those couple runs where it did shift out of 1st higher than 5500, it felt like a different car. The shifts felt quicker, and acceleration felt even stronger. The 1st to 2nd shift broke the wheels loose... this is the 1st automatic that i driven that did that which did NOT have a shift kit on it. dang i want to permanently be like that!

maybe it's possible the ecm memory wasn't completely cleared when i disconnected the battery? i only had it disconnected for a few seconds, how long does it take to clear?

 

Let me know if you get it figured out! I cant really give it a try this weekend as we just got 10" of snow here in Denver

 

can anyone confirm that the 03's shift early and the 05's dont?

wonder where the 04 falls...

 

Here's the deal - an '05 with Sport button engaged still shifts at 5,500-5,600.

2nd, without a doubt, shifts at redline.

 

Any more updates on this? I would imagine that 3 seconds is not long enough to clear the memory. My 03 1st gear is really short, it took me a while to get used to the shifts points, but then again I came off a 00 Ls1 A4 car so its a different beast.

 

i haven't had a chance to try it again with the battery disconnected for a longer period of time yet. i need to change my oil soon, so i might disconnect it before i start, then reconnect it when i'm done. but i won't have time to do that until a couple weeks. another problem is finding a good place to "dog it out" where i can slip and slide all over the road...

1 other thing, last time i disconnect the battery, auto-up for the 2 driver's side windows stopped working for a few days. Both windows would "auto-down", but not up. Both passenger side windows worked fine up and down... weird

 

to clear the TCM/ECM, touch the disconnected negative cable to the positive terminal, just briefly. That will totally clear the memory. Simply disconnecting it for a period of time won't do it. Then try your sport/accelleration test once again. It may, or may not work.

 

my windows did exactly the same thing after it was returned from the shop..unfortunately our lexington ky dealer closed, so now i have to arrange to get the car serviced 75 miles away in Louisville, ky.... my windows returned to normal a couple days later....also my 03 str will not reach red line....

 

I tried this test, but not sure if I cleared the modules correctly. My radio still had retained the presets I programmed into it but all the other settings were back to factory.

I disconnected the battery and touched the positive to the negative with the cables only. I then let it sit for 5 mins. Reconnected them. Started the car and it went through a check. Windows with the auto roll up did not work like others mentioned but my parking brake did not work either, kept telling me to apply parking brake-tried but it didn't work.

Shut the traction off and put it in sport mode. Ran from a couple red lights-car shifted alot better close to readline. After running from 3 or 4 lights. I figured that was enough-finally at the last light my parking brake became active again and worked like it should.

I let the car sit for a while and then took it out again. Non sport mode--1st gear is not as short as it was and shifts higher so does second. It took me a while to get used to the 1-2 shift because it was so short. Appears that gas mileage may have increased a bit will run further testing when I refill. Sport Mode seems that the car shifts higher then before but seems to keep it around 5600 rpms. Car does feel alot faster and more powerful, non sport mode feels like sport mode, and sport feels like a beast. I recommend others to try this out def. changes the car!!!

 

Not sure if the TCM needs 'reflashed' by the dealer to have the same results or not, but when done properly, the car then re-learns from your driving style. There's probably more that it will have to learn besides shift points, but at least if feels like it helped you in doing so.

 

So any news on this? I really want to go outside and try it, but I don't want it to be a tease and just go back to stock after a couple hours of driving... Is your car still shifting higher?

(OH - And in regards to the auto roll up/down windows there is a procedure your supposed to do whenever you do a hard reset like that. I think it involves rolling all of the windows completely down, then completely back up, then maybe down again? I don't remember exactly, but I know there is one... I'm sure all of the techs know..? )

 

Eric,
I haven't got on it again, but it def feels alot better. I'll give it some romps today was raining yesterday and report back. I'll be sure to record the shifts points in sport and non sport mode. Still in non-sport mode feels like its in sport as before in non-sport it was tamer.

 

Looking forward to the news..

 

Well it's indeed true car shifted at 6100 rpms in sport mode freaking screams!!!! I didn't look at other shift points though that was enough was doing 70 before I knew it.

Def. try it what do you have to loose only takes 5mins and then some driving!!

 

I'll let you know how it goes.. I'm going to do it before my drive to work tomorrow!

 

Interesting...I knew the S-Type R's usually short shift the lower gears but I didn't know resetting the ECU would alleviate that issue...I thought it might be in the TCU.

SilverSTR, does you car always shift at 6100 in sport mode now? I know the ECU's attached to the 4.2L Supercharged Jag's have a learning algorithm...

I think I'll give this a try with my XJR. Although it doesn't short shift as bad as some S-Type R's I've seen, it still shifts a few hundred RPM's early (about half the time) unless I am using the J-Gate. I have yet to see 1st gear shift at 6100. Maybe resetting my ECU will help take advantage of my new upper supercharger pulley as well...