I have an 04 TL automatic with 165k on it.

? I was driving on Saturday and my VSA light, traction control light and the check engine lights all came on. My car was stuck in 3rd gear and would not shift even when you came to stop. I tried putting it into manual mode and it would not shift up or down. I pulled over, turned the car off and back on. At that point the transmission would shift properly but the check engine light was still on. Later in the day when I was going to see what I could diagnose, the check engine light was off.

I have 2 questions. #1 how long does the data from when the check engine light was last on stay in the system? #2 any idea what might have happened? #3 any idea what the fix would be?

Many thanks for your time.

 

Go to a local auto shop, Im pretty sure they can pull the code still.. Did you hit anything? Sounds like tranny failure for sure.

 

#1 - As long as its not cleared
#2 - Same thing happened to me months before my tranny died
#3 - It seems like a tranny issue. You're def in the range of people that have issues.

My first sign of transmission issues was when i passed a truck on a country road, the car was able to downshift, but stayed at high rpm, and even manual mode did nothing. Eventually it shifted back. Unlike you, my CEL never came on until a week or 2 before complete failure. Even when my car started to have issues on a daily basis, stutter when accelerating, slow shifting, car not shifting when it should....my CEL only came on at the very end of a 9 month period. The code was related to torque converter.

 

I thought CEL reset after three ignition cycles if the problem is fixed? That's what my wife's car does, but it's also not a Honda.