AT got "stuck" in 2nd gear

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Old 02-12-2008, 09:35 AM
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AT got "stuck" in 2nd gear

Unfortunately the other thread title AT shifting problems isn't the same problem I had, wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

Approx. one week ago after passing through a construction zone I signaled to move into the passing lane on the highway and floored it. AT selector was in "D." We were traveling approx. 40 mph at the time. It was extremely wet out, so immediately VSA blinkers started going off. I continued to hold accelerator to the floor until I reached a speed of 60 mph at which point I began to let off.

At this point I was expecting the transmission to up shift of course... except it didn't. So now quickly in my head I figured I had left it in sport shift and forgotten and I made the motion to move the selector over to "D," except it was already in "D." My next thought was to let off the accelerator completely thinking maybe VSA was still triggered from the wet road conditions and the ECU had somehow determined that keeping the engine at 5500+rpms with 0% throttle position was a good idea... still no shift, only compression braking.

Immediately moved selector to sport shift and clicked to upshift... nothing. Guages say it's in 2nd gear which is right to me given the speed and RPM.

By now I'm freaking out because I'm in the passing lane going about 55 with the engine doing 5700-5800 RPM, I'm trying to keep it under the VTEC point. It's pretty embarrassing being in the passing lane doing 55 with the engine revving up and not accelerating, not to mention dangerous.

My last resort was to shift over to "D" then up to Neutral. Immediately upon doing this I felt a huge jolt through the gear selector. Shifted back to "D" and everything was peachy.

I've been driving the car every day for at least a week and it hasn't happened again. I'm not concerned, seems like a one time thing, anyone ever have the same thing happen or know what went wrong??
Old 02-12-2008, 09:56 AM
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Sounds like the ECU got stuck in a state where it was expecting some input to tell it to let go of the gear but somehow missed. Probably something like a software bug that only occurs under very specific conditions. If that's the case, you won't likely ever run into it again. If you do, it's probably dealer time.
Old 02-12-2008, 10:26 AM
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Have you checked your ATF recently? Most AT will default to second gear if there is not enough fluid to actuate the clutches and solenoids. This feature allows the car to be somewhat drivable.

If everything is running well now there probably isn't an issue. A solenoid or sensor probably was stuck or not responding at the time.

Note: I'm surprised someone on this board hasn't already told you to do a transmission flush...
Old 02-12-2008, 11:39 AM
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Interesting story. How many miles do you have on your TSX?
Old 02-12-2008, 12:03 PM
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Should have mentioned, this is an 06 TSX with 18K miles and change.
Old 02-13-2008, 02:42 AM
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Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Doesn't the TSX adapt to your driving style? I had the pedal to the floor passing 5 cars and when I took my foot off the pedal, the gear did not change and my rpm was way up there. After a little while, the gear upshifted and returned to normal rpm.
Old 02-13-2008, 11:44 AM
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This is all very frightening to me.
Old 02-13-2008, 12:09 PM
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With all these AT problem threads popping up, I'm happy to be driving an MT.
I just can't trust a Honda AT after reading all the horror stories from Accord V6 and TL's.
Old 02-13-2008, 03:08 PM
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i also got an 06 with 18K, the only time when my AT doesn't shift and stay in high rpm is when i go down hill or uphill (on highway with speed >~40miles), and i think in my case it's normal since the car want to do some engin braking for me, and have more power going uphill. In you case, i think it's maybe the weather? hum.......don't really know
Old 02-13-2008, 04:21 PM
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I just had this same thing happen the other day it wet conditions. I floored it in second and RPMs were at 6k. VSA light flashing. Tried to shift to 3rd it sports mode and in D. Nothing happened. Found out that the cars computer will hold the car in a specific gear if the computer senses that there could be engine failure. Just because this happened does not mean you were on the verge of blowing the motor up. I stopped the car and put it into park. After 2 minutes it was fine. This is just a system that comes on to prevent any major damaged.

The question is, were you on the gas hard?????? Hope this helps
Old 02-13-2008, 06:40 PM
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Well thanks for all the input, it seems initially I have nothing to worry about, but if it happens again in dry conditions it's off to the dealer.

And yes, I was on the accelerator hard, but I laid off it for about 30 seconds trying different things unit I finally woke it up by shifting into neutral.

Next car's gotta be an MT, just need to buy a beater to practice....
Old 02-14-2008, 12:12 PM
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You can have my stick shift Jeep, cheap (heheheh).

I wonder if the VSA kicking in is the issue. Reading your story/stories, I hear that you guys are on wet roads, VSA kicking in, and you're flooring it trying to accelerate. I wonder if upshifting when the VSA system is still "thinking there's traction issues down there on the road" is a good idea. Maybe the system is operating "normally" (excluding the incredible refusal to upshift with driver intervention).

Possible tactics the next time it happens:
- engage the cruise control while in D, and see what happens ...
- brake (foot off gas pedal) and decelerate about 10 mph,...
- disengage VSA manually (risky!)...

... I'm out of ideas. It probably won't happen to you again. But I have noticed when I'm really flooring my 06 TSX (45,000 miles), the tranny lets the engine rev waaaaay up there (goosebumps territory). You just got ... stuck. Intriguing.
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