*DISCLAIMER*
I am not defending Acura's Tranny. Nor am I making any sort of statement
regarding Acura's Quality. This post is not about the CL or the CL's tranny.
It's a question regarding driving technique.
* end disclaimer*

I'm putting this in car talk because I'm trying to get an idea of how a
dying tranny feels, but more importantly, how you as a driver should
respond when you feel some sort of symptom. I'd like to be a bit prepared
versus just going into a blind panic when/if it happens. This is something I
was thinking about even when I had my Ford Taurus.

Also I'm a bit of an idiot regarding internal mechanics of gear shifting in general so I'd like some feedback on how things work in general. So please don't move this to tranny talk yet. (unless my thread gets hijacked....)

I'd like to discuss ways a tranny can go, and what you should do when they occur.
These are just my thoughts: I'd like comments and suggestions from other people:

1) Worst case scenario is tranny flat out dies. I.e. christmas lights. I believe your car just dies as if you shut off the engine. Is that correct? In which case your main risk is someone who is behind you ramming into you. I assume if this happens there's nothing you can do anyway.

2) Another symptom is gear slipping. Which means something like your car drops down into gears unexpectedly. Isn't it the same as someone missing a shift and downshifting?

On the highway I normally cruise at 75 mph. local roads, 35-45 mph.
According to my FAQ max speed of 1st gear is 42mph, 2nd gear: 69 mph.

Let's say I'm going 75mph, and then the tranny hiccups and drops into 3nd gear.
I'll hear some noise as the engine revs up, but I shouldn't feel anything, right?

Now let's say I'm going 75mph, and then the tranny hiccups and drops into 2nd gear.
What happens? Extreme braking till it drops down to 69 mph and the rev limiter backs off? (Which doesn't seem like it should take too long?) Shouldn't be dangerous unless someone is tailgating me hard?

If I'm going 75mph and the tranny drops into first, I assume the engine will explode or something? Or will the rev limiter save you & you just experience some Big time Braking until it drops below 45mph?

3) I've experienced a thing where I hit the gas and the rpms went up, but my car didn't seem to speed up. I didn't feel anything odd or dangerous. I let up on the gas and accelerated again, and things acted as normal.

I suppose in that scenario the main risk would be if I was attempting to merge into traffic and couldn't accelerate to merge into traffic fast enough. If this happened when I was trying to pass someone, I could just give up on passing and just get back in my lane. The only real caveat I think is if I'm on an entrance ramp, and if my car isn't speeding up, I'm kinda screwed. I wonder if you can drop into SS mode and shift around to try to get it to catch? When it happened to me it recaught in about half a second.

I guess my main point is, I feel that the main risk of the tranny failing is someone ramming into you from behind. In new York I tend to be one of the faster drivers, and there isn't usually anyone too close behind me. (if there are, I usually let them pass me). I'm not too worried about it. Of course if my tranny just christmas lights on me I'm screwed, but Almost everyone feels symptoms long before they christmas light. Anyway, I'd be interested in your feedback.

 

Yes, I make long ass posts. :P

 

Oh yeah, what would you feel if your car accidentally upshifts? I suppose also nothing but unexpectedly slow acceleration? I suppose if it upshifted when you are too slow your car might stall?

Also, I just read in the other thread that the tranny can lock up your steering? what the heck is that all about? I thought the tranny's purpose was just to decide what gear your engine is in?

 

Tranny decides what gear the transmission is in, not your engine....

 

Sorry, I've got over 56K, knock on wood. I don't read into this stuff, but all of the above "comes to mind" ........