Why does my 11 Optima shift hard sometimes? It may do it for a few days and then not at all for a month. You can watch the rpm's flutter and fall when this happens.
What is your question?
I first noticed it within the first week of buying the car, as it was shifting up 1-3 gears, it was yanking, shifting really hard! I switched it into manual and it seemed to stop. Probably 3 weeks later it did it for the second time, shifting 1-3 gears going up, and back down. Both occasions I attributed it to not warming the car up before I took off. Now I've owned the car about 3 months, and it's doing it much more frequently. Sometimes it'll do it as soon as I take off, but then I get a few miles down the road and it stops. Other times it continues to do this. It literally feels like the transmission is being yanked out. I see that there is no way for me to check the transmission fluid. I've tried switching between the Eco being on and off, it seemed to help at first, but not so much anymore. No fluids are leaking, no noises, has anyone else experienced this problem? And what should I do? The 1st day it began, the check engine light also came on. Code read was very small emissionlk.
How long has your 2011 Kia Optima had this problem?
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Hello,
That is a major concern, and this transmission really should be scan tested by a professional.
This could be anything from incorrect fluid to a failed valve body, but there is no way of diagnosing it without hands on, diagnostic scanning, and a test drive.
You may, however, have a bad transmission mount, as that would account for the majority of the issues, but switching to a manual shift mode should not help out with that unless you also began driving very gently.
I encourage you to bring it to a transmission specialist for an evaluation.
