Belzebutt

Anyone else get this? Sometimes when I slow down to take a right turn or to come to a stop, I like to downshift to 2nd from 4th or 5th. Well, sometimes the SS just doesn't listen, and I can't figure out exactly what conditions make it happen. Most of the time it does let me shift to 2nd, but often I'm downshifting and I can see that nothing happens, I look at the digit and even though I'm pushing the gear lever back it stays stuck in 3rd, it doesn't want to go to 2nd. If I stop, it goes to 1st by itself of course. The thing I can say for sure is it's when I'm deccelerating, I've never had problems downshifting to pass. And a few times I tried to make it happen on purpose but it didn't do it.

It's kind of annoying because often I want to take a corner and be in 2nd to have quickly make the turn and accelerate, but I find myself in 3rd gear at the low end of the torque curve.

MrChad

First it's not a manual, the down shifts are for passing on the freeway and holding the gears on a grade or twisty...it's not for downshifting to power out.....in that case leave the lever in D and just punch it coming out of the turn and flip to M before the shift point.

When you decell you un-lock the torque converter this likely means the tranny isn't hooked up so the Tranny ECU may not allow such a low shift point based on your current speed at that moment. It's likely a tranny fail safe.

It's much easier on your tranny if you go to 4th ---then 3rd --- then 2nd before you enter a turn. I don't even do 4th to 2nd on quick runs in my manual Accord.

ange1

from 4th to 2nd would get u into redline i reckon

Alin10123

You may want to try giving it some revs up there in 3rd before you try and shift into 2nd. This way it'll "rev match" and it may shift then.

fast-tl

This sounds like something your service advisor should look at. The one thing to look out for is if you try a downshift that would overrev the engine, the LCD gear display will flash, indicating that it can't do that shift (say from 3rd to 1st, the number would flash and the request would be ignored.)

If this isn't the case with your car, have it looked at.

Alin10123 adn MrChad allllll had it wrong.

At times, my '00TL does the same.

MrChad

He's trying to shift into 2nd with the car under rapid decelleration and the brakes on...depending on how fast the engine is spinning at the time of the request.....the tranny torque converter is unlocking (as all autos do when you brake hard) and the engines speed may be such that 2nd would be a bit jarring on the torque converter lockup. It's letting him pick 3rd.....

Try switching off the VSA -- this may allow it, but the rapid change from 4th to 2nd without spending any time actually in 3rd may be ignored by the ECU.

I know what he is trying to do and the turn is going to be a lot smoother if he is in a lower gear then 4th before going into 2nd or the turn. The brakes are going to be a lot happier too.

Hojo061782

It's important to remember that it is called a "Sequential Sportshift" for a reason. It's not only meant to be used for normal driving, but also hard driving as well. And I'm sure that as soon as you tell it switch gears it will unlock the torque converter. Going from 4th to 2nd won't necessarily make it redline...there are a number of times that I have popped it from 5th into 3rd to quickly pass someone on a two-lane road. And if it will exceed the safe number of revs for the engine for a given shift, the car just won't shift. Yeah it jumps revs really quickly when it does shift, but it handles it with ease. At that point, the only jerking in the car is from the acceleration.

However, I will concede that for normal driving, it mainly makes sense to just let the car do the downshifting for you. It knows what the lower limits are and will keep the car stalling. The only downshifting I would not recommend doing often is 2 to 1, because that definitely is jerky. Oh and one other thing, I do the downshifting quite often when driving hard, with no problems. Because of the problems you're having, I'd recommend that you take your car into the shop, because something isn't right.

Belzebutt

It's definitely not an RPM issue, we're talking going at a speed of around 10 mph and not being able to go down to 2nd gear from 3rd or 4th! If I just wait a couple of seconds, after going "WTF?" I let the car roll and then it lets me pick 2nd gear. And it doesn't happen all the time. It's not during a hard stop either.

kuriso

I DRIVE SS 85 percent of the time, and this is what I think... This happens often to me. But what I find interesting is that do you shift slowly or quickly? When I ask that, I mean, do you pull back of the stick slowly or quickly? This actually makes a difference for some reason. When I try to shift down from 3rd to 2nd while slowing down. It wont do it, but if i quickly pull back, NOT HARD,` just quickly, it engages 2nd, I don't know if I am just switching in a good moment for the trans, but it always works when i shift swiftly. Try it out.

Also, when in 4th you still can go to 2nd with out redlining. if you are driving at 30mph, you can even shift to 1st.

-Chris

Roleez

I agree. I've taken a few TSX 5AT loaners out for a spin when my CL-S6 is in the shop. Timing is the only way to get a 4th to 2nd shift using M mode.

WORKS:
4th --> brake --> (in 1 full second) tap down / slight pause / tap down ---> 2nd ... OR,
4th --> brake --> tap down --> 3rd --> tap down --> 2nd

WON'T WORK:
4th --> brake --> (in less than 1/2 second) tap down / tap down --> 2nd

(I used to have a CL-S 5AT and it behaved the same way as the TSX does).

tehCOW

yes. exactly. if you want to downshift from 4th to 2nd, you can't jerk it the SS to the (-) quickly. you have to be smooth. as you approach the curve, downshift. and you get closer, downshift again and you will be in second.

also, like mrchad said, it is better for the transmission to ease the car into 2nd. it is also better for the engine since a gear change from 4>3 and then from 3>2 will slowly raise the tach rather than launching the tach a couple thousand rpm...

one of the reasons why your car won't let you downshift while slowing down is because the car is already downshifting for you. so when you are trying to downshift the car when you are coming to a stop, you have to downshift before the computer decides to downshift, hence you have to use the technique above.

and if you are wanting to take a corner like a beast, you got to do it smooth, hence the smooth gear changes

biker

Look at all the issues you would avoid by getting an MT.

jlukja

biker



As someone said, SS is sequential, so when you go from 4th to 2nd you actually need to be IN 3rd momentarily. By doing a quick (-) (-) you are not giving it enough time to downshift to third before it will accept the (-) input and drop you down to 2nd.

biker is right, if you want COMPLETE control over gear selection then you should have bought an MT.

MrChad

He's right, this is an automatic no matter how you look at it...it's not an SMG or DVG or whatever....it's a fancy automatic.

I'm just thrilled to be able to hold a gear or downshift on demand--it wasn't purchased to be the Micheal Schumacker of the western world.

jcg878

I dunno, if people have this many issues driving an AT...

Whiskers

If you have problems, stick it in D and depress the accelerator pedal.

jlukja

Whiskers

When I am in SS and try to downshift and can't, I just assume the car knows better then me.

ClutchPerformer

PixelHarmony

Get an MT

Whiskers

Sorry - No ClutchPerformers allowed in this thread....

Andynolife

SS wont let u downshift if the rpm will go above 5k after the shift .. ~
it's a good protection anyway .. ~