When I'm in d5 and in 5th gear, when I hit the gas pedal there is a "soft spot" as i press down...it's almost non responsive unless i press the pedal more than halfway down. The RPM increase isn't smooth either when I do hit the gas pedal...not sure whats going on. In D4 i never have that problem...ts a pain on the highway when I'm trying to make a pass. The RPMs never seem to want to go past 2000 in 5th gear when I hit the gas..any thoughts ? I have a fairly new transmission....spark plugs are about a year old...I recently tightened up the throttle cable too.

 

Hey LiveFive, are you using Honda DW1 fluid in your replacement tranny ?

If not, most 'Ziner's highly recommend using only Honda fluid in their trannys. Try a "drain & fill" with DW1, along with replacing the tranny filter. This will help keep the shift solenoids clean and more responsive.

 

My transmission fluid is new, >3000 miles since I put it in my replacement tranny. It's shifting like butter. I had this problem with the old one too. I'm running castrol transmission fluid..the one for imports (says recommended for DW-1 on the bottle). However, I'm not too sure it's the tranny. I'll probably switch to Amsoil next month.

 

Hey man, maybe try a shot of "nitrous" , for a little added boost when passing !

 

If you had this problem with the old tranny, perhaps it's a sensor or even the ecu causing this. Were the old sensors reused? Were the screen solenoids cleaned? As for the fluid, I wouldn't put anything other than original Honda DW-1. Imitations won't cut it.

 

Hey Victus1, the only sensor that was reused was the speed sensor for the transmission. Everything else is off the newer tranny. I'll check the screen solenoids but the shifting is smooth, sharp and quick through all gears...no slamming or anything. I'll look into symptoms of a bad speed sensor.

The rpms tend to bounce if I'm driving and let off the gas sometimes. Sometimes it would lock up at a steady rpm, other times it would just bounce and then stabilize. Some aziners say it's normal so idk. Thanks though!

 

Does your tranny downshift from 5th to 4th gear when pushing hard on gas? I have a 94 sentra that used to downshift from 4th to 3rd only for couple seconds when pressing hard on gas paddle to pass on interstate which wasn't enough to pass! It used to have sluggish acceleration, I used the fuel injector cleaner and it fixed the problem at least in my case!

 

Hmm, while in D5 moderate increase of pedal pressure gets me going a bit faster, good enough to pass etc. If I need to go NOW, I have to push the pedal down a good ways before RPM's shoot up and then away it goes, pretty quick too.

 

5th is a tall gear, and depending on what speed you are going when you press the gas and its "non responsive" you may be just going to slow a speed for 5th and the engine to be able to move the car quickly. It should release the lockup of the tq converter at minimum and or down shift to 4th or 3rd depending on how much throttle is applied and give you the quicker acceleration. Try putting it in SS mode and do the same thing keeping it in 5th and see if it behaves the same. Is it possible to make a little video so we can better see what's going on?