HELP! 2012 Charger SE transmission/shifting problems after two day!

[tdp32]

Hey guys,

First post here, I just bought my first charger (preowned) yesterday and was loving it until this morning. I have a 2012 SE 3.6L 5 speed with 32,000 miles on it, and all was going well until earlier today when my car seemed to be staying in gears too long and hard downshifting when it was not necessary (in my opinion). I did some searching on the forum and the web and understand that these cars seem to shift hard, but my situation is a little bit different. My car will stay in first gear until about 45 mph at 5000-6000rpms with my foot barely on the accelerator cruising (not even on the highway). When it finally does shift into second, it will only stay in second for a short while and if I drop back down to 40mph or so it will aggressively downshift into first causing the car to lurch and jerk. Flooring it is the only way I can force it to shift into second, but like I said, it doesnt stay there too long. Also, I dont know if this is just a coincidence, but this issue started happening shortly after getting a flat after hitting a pothole.

The car was used as a rental vehicle before me and had one other owner who only kept it for 4 months and I hope I this is not the reason he/she got rid of it. I haven't been speeding or revving the engine at all (I did floor it from a standstill in an empty parking lot while turning around, I couldn't resist  but thats it haha.

Im scheduled to take it to the dealer tomorrow morning, but am seriously considering taking advantage of this dealers 72hr return program if there is any serious repair required. I love the car, but I went through hell with my last car and just want something reliable, its way too early (in my ownership at least) to be having these kinds of problems!

Any and all info/help is greatly appreciated!

Sorry for the long post!

-Matt

[JB400]

Kind of sounds like it might be low on fluid.  Unfortunately, there is no dipstick on these cars.  They have to go to a dealer to get that checked.

That's my guess.  Check the obvious first.  I don't have one of these Chargers, but my work truck acts in a similar manner when it's low on fluid.

Out of curiosity, have you tried to manually shift it?   Best of luck getting it fixed.

[tdp32]

I sincerely hope thats all it is, i'll be glad if it is but pissed at the dealer for letting it pass their "150-point certified preowned inspection" haha.

And I should have mentioned earlier, I can manually shift without problems but its not very responsive in my opinion, but that might just be because my last 3 cars were all stick shift. It broke my heart when I found out there's no manual option on these chargers haha.

Thanks for the response though man, if I keep telling myself its just low on fluid maybe I can get some sleep tonight haha.

[JB400]

If that's all it is, I wouldn't be driving it much.  If you do, I wouldn't be driving it much.  It might get costly.