Transmission 2016-2023- 6 SPEED AUTOMATICS COULD BE LOW ON FLUID DIRECTLY FROM FACTORY

Tonight I got really annoyed with the transmission. Maybe it's partially the fault of the cruise control system. Anyway, lately when driving back to to my apartment from my dad's house, on an approx 10mi I stretch of highway, my truck has been deciding to frequent 5th gear more on spots it used to do fine in 6th. Any highway driving it seems to need 5th gear at any slight incline. Then tonight on my way home, on the smallest incline, it went to fifth, which annoyed me a lot, then dropped to 4th. No way this V6 doesn't have the balls to make the tiniest incline in 6th gear. I was furious that it dropped to 4th when it was by no means necessary.

Tomorrow I'm calling the dealer and demanding they check the ATF. I didn't have complaints about the transmission earlier because I understood things need to break in and the transmission needs to learn. Seems the more I drive on highways (60+ mph) the more frustrated I'm getting with this truck.

 

Same here.

 

New edit to the first post
Removing the battery terminals or clearing the memory makes sense for the guys who are low on fluid .
The transmission was designed to learn the owners shift characteristics with the transmission full of fluid at the proper level .
If you guys have low fluid , your transmission is going to work like crap and there is no possible way your transmission adaptive learning will adapt properly to your driving characteristics with low fluid . Your transmission will feel like a bag of sh^t .
I can not stress enough how important it is to make sure your trans is filled correctly even if this means learning to check it yourself . Get your buddy to help you , get your wife to help you or suffer the consequences
With this said , I am not positive the dealer is clearing the adaptive learning after they top off your fluid . Some dealers will , others will not .
If you are taking your truck in for a low fluid issue , be sure to request the adaptive memory be cleared with the Techstream .
For the members checking your fluid at home , pop the battery cables off for half an hour after you topped off the fluid .

 

Had a thought last night since I'm not sure if the ATF oil drains from the air cooler once the truck is turned off, if it does, then would the next time the dealer checks the level at the service intervals would that amount of fluid be drained out causing it to be low again? Or should I just ask for them not to check the ATF since I know it's now full?

 

Transmission pump needs to spin in order for fluid to move through the cooling system . There are also anti-drainback valves in place to prevent fluid from draining back to the transmission pan

 

Perfect, thanks!

 

My dealer did reset the transmission ECU when they checked my transmission fluid this weekend. They did not specify a quantity it was low, but the report said they adjusted the level (not just "checked" the level) and the service advisor said they had to add some fluid. So I am sure it was more than just a few ml low.

 

Reset the transmission today by disconnecting the battery. Feels much much better. Also added differential to the rear differential, was about 750 ml low.

 

I will be picking up my 16 in a few weeks. I will be having everything checked before I pay a penny.

 

I just received word that my '16 would be delivered to the dealer 3/30, and I plan to pick it up 4/02. I ordered the truck 3 weeks ago and since reading this post have sent an email to the sales person requesting them to go through the transmission fluid level, drive shaft grease and U-Bolt re-torquing. The sales person printed and gave my email to the Service Manager, in turn the Service Manager did mention he knew about the low tranny fluid level and that they would go through everything. I too won't be signing off on anything if they haven't done what I asked. Seems to me they are on the ball though.

 

Had dealership top off fluid. Also told me they reflashed the truck to fix the erratic shifting. It definitely fixed the shifting, whether that was the atf or the reflash, I don't know, but I had to drive 500 miles on Sunday and yesterday. The first 200 my mileage would not go above 11 mpg. I think it had to complete a drive cycle because yesterday for the last 300 miles, I filled my tank and got better gas mileage than I ever have before. Sat at around 17.5 mpg when the trip was over, and it was all sorts of elevations and hills. Very happy with whichever combination of variables came into play.

 

So is the proper way to check the fluid is NOT to pin the thermostat? But when you fill it completely empty you pin the thermostat? I'm confused about this. I ask because I printed off the PDF for the 4x4 and I'm gonna bring to dealer when I go Friday

 

We assume the cooling system was not filled at the factory .
This means that there is a possibility that the thermostat has possibly never been opened to fill the air cooler with fluid.
If you push the thermostat " IN " anytime your truck is running , your air cooler will fill and eliminate the need to pin the thermostat .
I believe most dealers still pin the stat mind you .

 

But how long does it take with it pinned for it to completely fill? I imagine if you just pushed it in and released it, it wouldn't be in long enough for the fluid to fill it up.

 

push the stat in for 30 seconds . thats long enough to fill the air cooler

 

So should a guy push the thermostat "IN" while it's running before taking it in to be checked by dealer? If you should where is the thermostat?

 

If you dont plan to check the fluid on your own , there is no sense in lowering your fluid level by pinning the thermostat .
If you go back to page 11 of this post , one of our generous members posted pictures with locations of the thermostat .

 

The thermostat is closer to the passenger side. Post 209 on page 11 like Gearcruncher said. Really pretty simple once you look at it. I was all confused till I finally got down there.

 

So how many people are actually getting an extended warranty out of having the dealer check their atf level?

 

Picked up my 2016 TRD-OR (with tow package) 4x4 AC yesterday.

While I was there doing paperwork, I talked directly to the service manager and asked him to check the AT fluid level after explaining the issues I've been hearing about, as well as that I was familiar with the actual fluid check procedure. He was very accommodating and in an hour or so let me know that, to save some time (it was near the end of the day), they added 1 qt before proceeding with the official procedure (AT temperature check mode). He said that, at the most, they had to drain enough to indicate that it was around 1/2 to 3/4qt low.

Great service. I haven't noticed any shifting issues, other than those that I suspect are the adaptive learning. No hesitation between P, D, R that I'm noticing.