Thinking there is an issue with the trans. Before I go to the dealer I was hoping someone on here knows these cars. When on the freeway when you come to an incline and you depress the gas pedal slightly to keep speed it feels like the trans slips momentarily, the RPM raises a couple hundred RPM then it goes back to where it was prior. It doesn't seem like it downshifts, maybe converter unlocking not sure. If I leave the trans in manual it doesn't do it. Also in stop and go traffic seems to surge on deceleration in the lower gears. This is the 8 speed auto. The car is new, has 1200 miles on it now.

Why would you trust an internet diagnosis - take it to the dealer. They should take it for a ride with the StarScan on it and see exactly what is happening.

My experience at dealerships in the past has been, we can't duplicate the issue or its normal. I'm expecting the same here. Maybe I'm wrong,will see after they look at it. I feel it would be helpful to know if this is a typical issue or not prior to them looking at it.

FWIW the software on my 2012 3.6 with the 1 yr only non-mopar built 8spd is pretty poor. It doesn't make great shifting decisions but with the SE model I don't have manual shift so I have to live with it.

That's great, thanks for the info.

They should be able to record all the eng and trans electronics. I used to do it all the time at my dealer as the data recorder was the best tool I could use for strange problems that would not happen all the time. Heck we got the MDS (Mopar Diagnosis System) in 1992 and within a year or two it had the Data Recorder and Co-Pilot for it and it helped me fix many strange problems. One time I had a 3.0 Caravan that would start bucking and breaking down when you would nail it and it got over about 40 mph. Of course it had all the normal repairs before I got it as they had the plugs , wires and dist cap & rotor replaced already. After recording the electronics and downloading the info from the recorder to the shop computer I found the speedo sensor was bad as when the van hit about 40 to 50 mph and you stepped down on it the speed sensor reading would jump from 46 mph to as high as 504 MPH !! And it had a 118 mph PCM on it which means any mph seen over 118 it will kill fuel injectors as thats the limit for that vehicle with the tires it had. Replaced the speed sensor and all was good. And I would have had a hard time finding that without the data recorder. I did not have to take a tech with me to try and look at all the sensors while driving when the problem happened. Its a great tool but the one problem we had was I was the only tech in my dealer who took the time to learn how to use it. They even have a tool that we could put on the car and let the customer take his car and when it acted up all the customer had to do is press the button to record 35 seconds before he hit the button and 10 seconds after he hit the button. If you go to a dealer and they say they cant find a problem ask them about a data recorder as they are for problems like that where they dont act up all the time. Good luck , Ron

doing live data is a pita since they went wireless based scan tool. There is no “copilot” you can leave with the customer now.

Yea I retired on disability in 2011 and we had already went to the laptop tech tool scanner. I would have thought they would have given it data recording ability as I loved having it. But I worked on mostly hard jobs that had been back a few times and other techs could not get them to act up. So for what I did it was great to use since I did not have to be looking at any scanner when the problem happened. Most straight flat rate techs did not want to use it and I can understand why as they could not make any money using it. I was the shop foreman and was paid on a base salary so I could work headache jobs and not worry about loosing my butt on the job. The shame is most dealers should have a diagnostic person who is paid a type of salary when they work jobs like that. The shame is most dealers wont do that. I had to spend alot of time on a Durango one time that would turn the ck eng lite on about once a week and set the code for "Gov pressure sensor volts to high". I Data recorded the car myself but could not get it to happen and had the customer data record it with the co-pilot. And of course had replace the Gov sensor and Duty cycle solenoid along with a few other parts along with testing and checking the trans wire harness. I saw the voltage jump way past the 5 volt operating range on one of the recordings the customer took. I had talked with the Mopar tech line a good bit also and every time I thought I fixed it a week later it came back with the same code. I finally got with one of the tech engineers who figured it out as it was the passenger side downstream 02 sensor causing the problem. I thought what the Heck . Yes the way the controller looks at that 02 sensor just before it looks at the trans Gov pressure sensor helped him figure out that the heater was shorting on that 02 sensor and spiking 12 volts into the trans press sensor circuit was causing the problem. I can tell you if I had not been on a type of salary I would never have been able to spend the time needed on that job and still make a living. No flat rater would have wanted to stick with it because Mopar wont pay for all that diagnostic time. But the data recorder did see the problem happen and can be a huge help in fixing odd problems like that. Many times it helped me to just narrow down what circuit a problem was in. But as I said I was the only tech who took the time to learn how to use it but I was a working shop foreman who did make sure I was getting paid to work with it. When I left it 2011 the tech tool laptop actually had a spot for data recording but it was not working and I guess from what you said they never did make it operate. Ron

I wanted to update after the trip to the dealer.

What I'm feeling with the car is the MDS kicking off. My wife doesn't pay attention to it and it's her car so I guess I'll let it go. Seems annoying to me though.

Only way around it that I've found is leaving the trans in manual mode.