Viper SRT Herk & ****

[viperbilliam]

Is this normal? It seems to be getting a little worse: At low speeds and decelerating, the drivetrain slop is quite obvious - you can feel it from the seat back and the jerking similar to lugging but it's not. It's especially apparent in second gear when cruising under 20 mph. The Viper doesn't like going slow!

 

[29OUTLAW]

Normal. Also seems to be worse when engine is cold.

 

[viperbob]

I've read that changing the tranny over to Royal Purple fluid might help...a few other threads talk about it. I am considering it. In the meantime, keep the revs/speed up - mine does get any better when warm albeit I only have 1200 miles...maybe it will get better over time.

 

[Nader]

Mine is perfectly civilized. Try the DC reprogram. You not only get more mid range power, it smooths out the engine roughness and runs much cooler.

 

[Racer Robbie]

You need to keep the revs up a lot higher. You should not be in ND gear at 20 mph. I never use 5th unless I am doing at least 65 and forget 6th here in CT.

 

[viperbilliam]

Thanks for the comments; this is a nitpick but I wanted to know how my fellow Viper owners were faring with this. Nader, I have the DC re-program but I think the problem stems from driveline lash. I'm going to have my Viper tech look at it the next time it goes in. If it's normal, I can live with it. I just push the clutch in when it starts jerking and it stops it right there. Robbie, it does it in first gear also. This syndrome is evident in parking lot cruising and when slowing to a stop.

 

[Grunt]

Some of this is also throttle input. It jerks, you ****, then the cycle repeats.

I rest my foot against the console to hold it stationary and this helps stop the cycle.

 

[toomanymodz]

"This syndrome is evident in parking lot cruising and when slowing to a stop."

Yep, the exact same thing happens to me when I'm at a car show and have to go slow. It's a bit embarrassing. People probably think that I can't drive standard shift. The only remedy is to push in the clutch and release it again.

 

[Nader]

I agree with Grunt. Keep your foot off the peddle when decelerating. Took a while for me to get use to driving it this way, but dont get the jerking anymore.

I also think there is soo much torque down low that cruising at low speeds - ie 5mph it is hard to moderate the pedal and one jerking motion creates the next... I use the clutch at slow speeds.

 

[All Car Guy And Viper NJ]

I was reading this post and assumed you were driving the car at too low a rpm so it was clunking. But what you are really talking about is that when you are slow cruising at maybe 1500 to 2000 you get bucking and have to put the clutch in and baby it. I tried the DC tune and had the same problem, it seems to be that when you add more timing and fuel this occurs. Chris at DC who does the tune couldn't get around it. So now I am only using the DC PCM to lower fan turn on and skip shift. Anyone out there have an answer. Very hard to live with the bucking people around me laugh when it occurs in traffic. Please don't tell me I need to learn to drive a clutch better. At 64 I have 51 years driving a clutch vehicle. The viper has the best clutch I have ever driven. Makes the vette pale in comparison.

 

[Grunt]

I was reading this post and assumed you were driving the car at too low a rpm so it was clunking. But what you are really talking about is that when you are slow cruising at maybe 1500 to 2000 you get bucking and have to put the clutch in and baby it. I tried the DC tune and had the same problem, it seems to be that when you add more timing and fuel this occurs. Chris at DC who does the tune couldn't get around it. So now I am only using the DC PCM to lower fan turn on and skip shift. Anyone out there have an answer. Very hard to live with the bucking people around me laugh when it occurs in traffic. Please don't tell me I need to learn to drive a clutch better. At 64 I have 51 years driving a clutch vehicle. The viper has the best clutch I have ever driven. Makes the vette pale in comparison.

Nader and I gave you somewhere to start. I really helps if you learn to control throttle modulation.

 

[bigmike32172]

you should try driving it with a paxton and vec2, anything but acceleration makes the car ****, or what we call surging. i dont believe there is a way to stop it, and supposedly installing a lighter flywheel makes it worse.

 

[03gobluecobra]

yep, installing a lighter flywheel will make it worse.

Anyone ever tried changing plugs? I've had this happen on other cars, and putting a larger gap on my plugs really helped. Plus, new plugs can smooth out the idle anyway, which helps a bit. You never know if one of your plugs was bad, or was improperly gapped.

 

[All Car Guy And Viper NJ]

It does not do the surging with the factory computer only with the DC computer with a tune in it. The viper runs smooth with the factory computer lots of popping and snapping which is okay. But my problem is only with the DC performance PCM.

 

[Yellow_OC_Viper]

This has been covered numerous times and was addressed by the DC Viper techs that were avaiable on this form a week or two ago. It's totally normal.....keep the revs up and use the correct gear. I agree that it's annoying but I soon get over it when I mash the go pedal!

 

[Yellow_OC_Viper]

OOPS- I guess you're not talking about driveline slop but bucking... Happens on my M3 once in a while especially when cold. I think it's caused by being very light on the go pedal while in limbo between slowly accelerating and decelerating. Accelerate a little faster and keep your foot off the gas when decelerating...........Yeah, sounds obvious........easier said than done.

 

[seriousfuncars]

Hi folks, This is the first time I'm on a forum so please be patient. I bought a 2006 Voi9 with 7 miles on it in Dec06. Noticed that the car bucks similiar to what you guys are discussing. The best way I can explain it is the same feeling as a street/strip car with a big cam that surges when you drive it too slow at low rpms. I saw an article that discusses throttle synchronization for 93-96. Do you know if this will help a 2006. My Viper exactually feels slightly worse than when I first got it. It has 400 miles on it but I hate having dealers working on it. Been into racing all of my life and can fix it with some help diagnosing it. Thx! Frank

 

[Flash1034]

When I regeared my Viper to 3.33, the herk and **** went away completely. i think it has something to do with the extrememly high gears Dodge put in the Viper to pass sound/emissions.

Flash

 

[Viper Specialty]

Yep, every single Viper I have ever driven has some sort of "jerky" movement.

The solution I came up with is to keep the RPM's higher via lower gear, as well as learn the actual RPM where it "jerks" at. Once you know where it is in the RPM spectrum, you just push in the clutch before it does it- problem solved.

As far as parking lots go, I generally "glide" through parking lots unless they are uphill, prevents it from happening also.

There is no actual fix for it, you just have to learn your way around it. It is the nature of the beast, and an inherent anomoly of the engines programming- albeit a necessary evil. The computer has to make a decision at some point to try and return itself to idle- thats when it "jerks." All manual cars CAN do it, but with the size of the viper engine and its tall gearing, it makes it 10x more apparent.

 

[Smog Dog]

Have been told it's pretty well gone with the 2008 engine.

 

[Viper Specialty]

Have been told it's pretty well gone with the 2008 engine.

Yep, the new controller is a lot faster, so it should be able to respond in time even with the follower/******* running close to idle speeds...

 

[Racer Robbie]

I have to agree with what Nader and Grunt have said above. I have never had the problem with both a stock tune and our various modified setups unless I allowed my foot to be bouncing on the gas pedal. I have installed an auxiliary throttle spring that holds the throttle closed and makes the pedal harder to push.

Robbie