So my car (not the new one, the 2006 Hyundai Tucson) is doing some funky "bucking" when accelerating from a stop. If you ease onto the gas real slow on a level or downhill surface, its more of a nearly unnoticeable pulsing then stops when it's shifted into 2nd gear (which is pretty quick) but if you're facing uphill or trying to accelerate quickly (such as turning onto a busy road) its a fairly forceful rhythmic kick.
It seems to only be a problem in first gear. When accelerating from a "near" stop, such as rolling through a stop sign (like in an empty parking lot) or making sharp turn, it doesn't seem to be a problem. Presumably because I'm only getting as low as second gear before applying the gas again.
So I'm kinda freaking out that this is going to be a really expensive problem. My only hope is that maybe my transmission fluid (err, "transaxle" fluid) is low. I checked it on my lunch break. The owners manual says to check with the engine idling and the fluid at "operating temperatures." So I drove around for 10 minutes then parked it and checked. I can't really tell if its low or not.
See attached pic. The manual says it should be in the "hot" range. It was like "almost" in that range. The area before "hot" is labeled "cold" which I assume is where the fluid is supposed to be if the engine hadn't been running. Its like 20 degrees out today and I only ran the engine for like 10 minutes. So the question is, is the level actually fine if its at the top of the "cold" and bottom of the "hot" area? (and therefore I have a real problem with my transmission?) Or is it actually low and I should add more fluid to see if that helps? If it *is* a fluid issue (which I'm hoping) could that only affect 1st gear and not the others?
