'05 3.5 Mag reflashed for TSB issue; improvements

[yo_marc]

Hey guys. I just got my '05 3.5 Mag reflashed for the 21-014-05 TSB ('clicking sound in rear end' at takeoff).

The problem is gone, which is great. It looks like the idle speed got bumped up to eliminate the problem. It looks to be about 750rpm now, vs 600 before? Not noticeable unless you watch the tach.

Anyway, the main reason that I'm writing this, is that it seems as though the entire shift program has been remapped for the car. In a good way.

Before, I sort of learned what the car 'liked'. It took me some getting used to when I first got it. I found it liked downshifts at 40mph to get up to speed on the highway, what amount of throttle for what kind of hill in the area. etc.

Now, the car feels MUCH more "electric" and smooth at light or part throttle... it feels much more 'drive by wire' in how the car responds to throttle input. Light throttle has it cruising up smaller inclines that I used to have to anticipate (more). The tranny seems to hold a gear longer during certain situations, and then upshift or lock the converter earlier during others. The converter lock at 40mph seems to hold longer before it kicks down. It's definitely a little different experience, especially seeing an early upshift and hearing the throttle come in to apply power. I like it.

There also seems to be an update for cold weather warmup time. Gears are held longer at slower speeds so RPM's stay a little higher when the engine/tranny are still cold (I was out in 20*F weather). The car did not do this before.

I thought I'd throw a little note out here, in case any of the earlier '05 cars owners were interested.

[DaILLestWun]

So this is for 05-06 models with the 4 speed tranny only?

[yo_marc]

That's a good question.. The TSB seems to be for those specific cars, but I'm not entirely certain if cars outside of the TSB could also benefit.

I'm not sure when this new flash started getting installed and used by cars at the factory. Unfortunately, I don't even have flash rev numbers to give anyone. :\ I was at the dealer trying to have a more serious problem nailed down, and this was a little 'cleanup' work I asked for while the car was in.

I know it's not much help, but the best 'solid' advice I could give regarding this is that I figure anyone experiencing that click from the back of the car could benefit from this flash.

One thing to note: the car is still not as 'drive by wire' as a friends Jag X-type. When you get a little agressive with the throttle on that car, it surprises me how much it looks, pulls and sounds like a manual transmission being shifted. The Mag is not that drastic, but it's certainly different than before.

[DaILLestWun]

Well what sucks is that I have a very loud exhaust so I don't hear anything except that lol.

[magwag]

My car has a click under light acceleration. I wonder if that would fix it. The only thing is I cant tell where the click is coming from. I have to bring that up thursday when im at the dealer.

[yo_marc]

Mine sounded like a small tick or knock coming from the rear floorpan area. The best I could probably describe it is that it sounded like the handle of a screwdriver giving some deep solid section of the floorpan a light tap.

I originally thought it was something like the fiberglass section of the rear floor shifting back and contacting the pan, or something in the spare-tire well shifting. I couldn't find anything, so I then suspected suspension or some driveline slack... I was pretty happy to hear about the software update. I figure it's just driveline slack; my guess is the higher idle speed is keeping constant 'forward tension' on the driveline.

The TSB details how to duplicate it; I had the exact problem. Only happened under those circumstances...

Hope this helps!