So I was on I-90 heading home from the Lexus Showcase in Arlington Heights. My avg speed was 65mph then all of a sudden it felt like someone hit me from the rear. The malfunction light and vsa light went on. As I exit on to local a street and switch the car to tiptronic the car was stuck in 3rd gear and wouldn't shift at all. By the way my TL is an 04 and the warranty is over. I disconnected and connected the battery. The malfunction and vsa light is now gone. The car drives and shifts fine.

Damn it, I want to bring it in to Acura, but my warranty is over.

 

how many miles and years on your car? Do this, go drive normally and see if the green light next to the D symbol in the gauge cluster is blinking. This signifies transmission failure. Quick question, did you accelerate hard in the period before and or after this happened?

 

Thanks for replying CSMEANCE. I just took the car out for a spin as soon I saw your post. I bought the car brand new back in July of 2004 and the car has 49,864 miles on it. I accelerated and thats when It felt like someone hit me from and thats when the VSA and Malfunction light when on.
Picture with the VSA and Malfunction light on.


After when I disconnect and connect the battery

 

ur car has detected a problem with the AT and it was severe enough where the car was placed in "limp home" mode (trans shifts to and stays in 2nd gear). The sudden decelleration is what you felt. when the car was reset, trouble codes went away but they will come back

 

So I read the previous treads about the same problem. Does the car still have warranty since it hasn't reach 50,000 miles? My car has 49,864 miles and my warranty ended in July.

 

I have read the previous thread about the same problem and they had the throttle body replace https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht+malfunction. I won't be driving so it's back to driving the civic. I'm going to call my dealer on Monday to make an appointment for them to check the car out.

 

Limp mode will limit the car to 20 MPH from my experience with another TL. The sudden jerk was the transmission suddenly downshifting unexpectedly, and since the TL doesn't have rev match (unless type-S), your going to feel a pretty harsh engagement. Like I asked before is the D light blinking

 

D light is not blinking.

 

Throttle body is my guess, otherwise its the VSA switch or the Accelerator Position Sensor, but I doubt it...

 

If he's got the same trans as I do, it just locks you into second, the newer ones might be different not sure since I would not want to get the smack into second at 65-70mph

I got lucky with my car and got the trans replaced when the D5 light was blinking before it decided to lock into 2nd gear

 

the normal 'extreme' failure is the one where it downshifts into 2nd on the freeway
Very exciting for any one tailgating you!

It is not limp mode kicking in- where does some of this info come from!
certainly NOT the owner book

IF the car does that again- stop and shut off for 15-30 minutes- restart and drive home
If limp mode activated becasue the trans slipping fooled the computer to thinking it was an engine overrev- then 2500 rpm would be all the engine will give you

Get to acura Monday or tues- warranty has a Goodwill clause where they can authrize anything at any mileage- no sweat on this one
If its a throttle position switch- that may be under 8/80 emission warranty- its failure would keep it from passing smog test

resetting the ecu by doing the battery neg cable will allow the car to give fresh codes as they appear.

Being nice- just explain the symptoms and do NOT tell them what you think is wrong- are you an acura tech?- then sit down please)
let them test and diagnose- when a possible warranty prob is found, the manager will usually get it covered for you without you asking (when over limits)
they do try to help you
The `service writers` job is to make money- so they may not be as aware of all the warranty things we have to time to research~

 

my info is based on my Gen2, which is the same trans in the 04 05
and our special court case ordered 7 year 109k mile warranty on the trans for gen2

 

I hope it's just with the DBW sysetem. It seems like we have a new 3rd gen trans failure every day on here. Getting a little nervous.

 

So figure out the problem and it's the Accelator Pedal Pressure Position Sensor. Total cost is 425.00 dollars. Car is going to be left at the dealer. Damn wish I would have purchased extended warranty.

 

NOOOO!!!!!!

it's a easy swap.. the APP sensor is only $120... get it the fuck out of there... arghh!