Hey, on my way home last week my car shuddered suddenly (felt like hitting rev limiter) and popped a message about power steering may not work. I pulled over and restarted the car. Power steering came back but the speedometer wouldn't work, and instead of shifting to second the car would just rev to the moon and go to neutral (or broke, I'm not sure). So I placed it in manual and it would shift to second and let me take it to redline in second but no matter the rpm 3rd wouldn't happen. There are no cel or warning messages. I cleaned battery terminals and reset computer, no deal. I ordered a new vss but it won't be here for a few days. Has anyone experienced this? I worry that it may be a toasted torque converter cause it shifts to second like I got rear ended. Thanks for reading.

Also. The rest of my gauges work and all the electronics

 

I forgot the most important part :P

2005 rl 125k miles

 

Maybe brake switch issue? 2005 Acura RL Sometimes Won't Come Out of Park -EricTheCarGuy - YouTube

 

broken axle.?

 

Honda speed sensors are historically in the transmission. I have a feeling your transmission has a major issue given the symptoms you experienced. We really need the codes though. CELs are only for emission systems.

 

Ouch intex GL. hope it's not too bad.

 

there are no warning lights on dash or messages in the navi/information center. Would there still be a code that I can read with a scan tool? I hope it's not catastrophic, the issues with this car have already been extensive.

Cat issues
plugs and coils
timing belt
battery
pcv and egr valves
both secondary o2s
and a leaky intake gasket


dang... Haha should be an awesome car for the next owner

 

Do you have any flashing or solid lights around the "gears" on the instrument cluster? For instance, a blinking D3 or blinking light around D3 is a specific error code for the transmission. Are any of them lit up when you aren't in that position?

 

Only the currently selected gear lights up. None of them flash while selected or have a light around them. My vss is supposed to get here today if that doesn't fix it I'll start talking to shops with the Honda scan tool that picks up trans codes too. Thanks for helping.

 

That should be a good sign. Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

well my situation is getting strange. I replaced the vss, it had gouges on the face of the magnet. It was obviously making contact and heating up. Today I test drove it, it felt fine but still no speedo, odometer, or gears past second. I pulled it into the garage to start checking over things again and suddenly the "check power steering system" warning comes on. Power steering stops working so I take it around the block again in manual mode so that I can use second gear. Now when I drive it up to 4-5k rpm and let off the throttle the torque converter is locked and keeps the rpm matched to my speed, I can use it to engine brake downhill. Before this was impossible, if the car was moving faster than engine rpm it would automatically drop down to an idle, until either the car slowed or I brought the rpm up to match the speed of the car.

Im leaning towards having a damaged torque converter, and a problem with power steering is placing the trans into limp mode.

Still no dash warnings/lights

 

The torque converter is known to be the weak link of the RL transmission, but I don't understand how it could or would keep you from shifting. Engine braking in manual mode is normal. I did it numerous times in mine when I had it.

 

OK I had a similar situation several years ago. Hit a small bump at parking lot speed and the trany goes nuts....can't clearly recall other symptoms but recall other signs of unrelated malfunctions. Just screwy.. Car would not shift past third gear.

SO I LIMPED RIGHT TO THE DEALER....you might try this!! They DO know a lot more about these things than we do.....just sayin.

Dealer had it 20 minutes and it was fixed. Dealer said the tranny had shifted awkwardly, probably from the small bump, and gotten locked up....I seem to recall the torque converter being mentioned. Car has worked great ever since.

 

I might give in and take it to them but I have had horrible experiences with them so I was hoping to figure this out myself without their input. I wouldn't be surprised if they want me to put a new trans in to fix a shift solenoid.




I noticed that the rev limiter stops the engine at 5k as if the car is in neutral or park. Also I found out that when the car is parked it won't let you shift past second. The navigation will not update my location while driving around the neighborhood either.

I don't believe the issue is with th shifter or tcu because it will allow to shift through prnd,d2 and m. And the transmission actually shifts to the selected gear.

i don't believe the issue is wth the navi because in the diagnostic menu it connects to acuralink properly and updated.

I drove with the vss unhooked and it didn't pop a warning light even after 5 miles. It didn't change the behavior of the car either.

Maybe be ill give the dealer a call. I'm just seriously reluctant about that.

 

No other dealer around? or even a Honda one?

 

Look, what is your alternative??? Really!

You are apparently unable to fix it, so get to the dealer....it probably won't get better by itself.

The dealer charged me $0.00 for the work and the car was well out of warranty!!

Just sayin'.....

 

Do the RL's have an APP sensor that goes out of whack?



Make sure the battery terminals are tight and there is no corrosion.

 

What is APP?

 

app is accelerator pedal position. I guess it's called that cause tps is taken.

The dealer says there are no fault codes. They believe it is a grounding issue, or damaged wire, Because there is no signal between Vss and tcu. Paid 150 for them to play around with it. They say it could be another 400+ just to find the issue and repair it specifically(not including parts of course).Also they said "it's a mess with all of the after market parts under there".

So, I'm takin it home. Tcu, harness, and battery can all be purchased for under 250, and easy to replace. Just time consuming. But At least they set me in the right direction. I didn't want to start throwing parts at it before just in case it ended up being internal.

 

Found a broken pin inside the new vss. Replaced it with a new one, car drove perfectly normal around the block going up to 25. Park it for an hour then leave for work, immidiately before merging into the highway it shifts Hard into 4th then to neutral. Christmas tree on the dash with blinking D and all. AFS, VSA, SHAWD, MIL, BRAKES and D. Navi says to restart the car, so I do and it all seems fine again. Till I go over 35 and it all comes back. So I head home slowly, and the car barely can get up my driveway, so I restart it and it drives normal with full power again getting up the drive and right back into the garage

I ordered 3rd and 4th pressure switches. But I have to ask if you guys know if transmission codes can be read with an obd2 reader?

 

No speedo, bad shift etc. = replaced output shaft vss

All was well for about 5 miles then failure.

P0717 - input shaft sensor. = replaced input vss

All is well for 5 miles. Then failure. New code.

p0722 - output vss signal failure. Speedo gone again.

gonna replace output vss again but gap it out with a washer, the magnet had a dent from shipping which made the face protrude outward a couple thousandths, it definitely made contact with the gear while inside the trans. I already checked wires for continuity and they're fine.

Glad I didn't leave it at the dealer. They wanted 400$ to check continuity of 6 wires.