A very disturbing problem has recently appeared on my '05 TL with Auto and 28,000 Km /17,000 miles on it and I'm wondering if anyone has heard of this problem.

Driving along in normal auto mode, went to pass two vehicles, original speed approx. 50-60 km/hr. Pedal to the floor, tranny kicks down a gear or two, get beside the second vehicle and notice hi RPM's and then the rev. limiter kicks in. Take my foot off the gas, but rev's stay hi. Put the stickshift into manual shift mode and notice the tranny is stuck in 2nd gear, try to switch gears to no avail. Now I'm scared as I'm in the passing lane with no where to go!! Luckily no oncoming traffic and I back of the gas, at approx. 62 km/hr. the tranny decides to shift into a higher gear.

This does not happen ever time I floor the pedal, but it is happening more often lately. Of course my dealer is 150 km's away and I'm concerned the car may not make it to the shop. When I asked the dealer if they have had problems with the '05 transmission he wasn't too forth coming with any information.

Anyone have or heard of this problem ?

John

 

Well I got the car into the shop and guess what there is no problem !! They can't repeat the problem so no problem.

Imagine your car is stuck in second gear (you don't know it's stuck in second until the rev limiter kicks in because you put your foot to the metal) trying to pass vehicles on a two lane highway. Put's the driver in a bit of a pickle !!

But hey there is no problem, we can't reproduce it! What a bunch of Aholes, a very serious problem that could easily result in a serious accident.
Acura Canada has been pleasant about the whole thing but if the dealer says there is no problem there is nothing we can do.
Needless to say I don't want to drive the vehicle and after being told there is no problem because they can't replicate it I no longer even want anything to do with Acura.
What more do they need to know, the car's transmission get's locked into second gear and won't come out no matter what the driver does! If it was them or one of their loved ones driving the vehicle they would no doubt work on the problem until they found the source of the problem.

So now it's time to involve the lawyers, If I get killed in an accident due to this problem then at least my wife will have some recourse to sue Acura for negligence.

 

Wow man. I hope everything turns out ok. Good luck. There was a recall due to transmissoin problems with the 04 TL but Im not sure about the 05.

 

you know what... when i got my 06 TL a few months back.... the same thing happened...

basically... i was launching from a stop light, then it was a bit wet outside... the VSA activated... then next thing i know.. my car got stuck at 2nd gear.. manual mode did nothing... D just stuck at 2nd gear...
i put the car in neutral for 10 seconds.. then it went normal again..

weird.

never happened again.

 

At what RPM where you at when you put the tranny into neutral ? Curious as I thought of that as I was in panic mode trying to manual switch gears and turn off the VSA. But I was passing two vehicles and was beside front vehicle when the rev. limiter kicked in. At that point who knows what the people in the vehicles you are beside are thinking so I tried to keep going knowing the speed limit ahead was reduced!
This is one scary situation when you live in an icy climate.

Thanks

 

i let the gas go and put it into N... call up ur dealer and see what they think!
=)

keep me updated too =)

it might've been something to do with the solenoid

 

I have this dude in my car. If anything really flaky happens I have a report that I can show. PLUS I can see what happens when other people drive my car..



http://www.davisnet.com/drive/produc...asp?pnum=08221

But it doesn't tell you about the transmission... But you can show the service manager that it happened here at this moment in time...

 

U might have hit the redline.. That is what happened to me.. it slows u down, even if u try to accelerate. It goes back to normal tho.. Mine is 06Auto

 

I don't understand your reply and am in need of some understanding with this problem. The dealer say's he has been able to reproduce the problem on icy roads but that everything is acting normal? Questioning him or Acura Canada get's me know where as it is normal but it isn't, bottom line being they don't know what to do about it as no codes are initiated.
IMO the computer is somehow confused and causes the vehicle to stay in second gear, but without error codes Acura is also confused.

How can it be normal for a car's transmission to stay in second gear, even if the wheels slipped? Acura can't answer that question, other than to imply it didn't happen!

It's as if you put auto tranny in second gear and tried to pass someone. Of course you would gain speed until such time as the rev. limiter kicks in. Then what are you going to do when you just passed 2 or 3 vehicles on a two lane highway, and of course you can't shift out of second gear because it's locked?

If Acura personal where behind the wheel when my transmission was locked in second gear while trying to pass two vehciles on a two lane highway, panicking trying to get the vehicle to shift into a higher gear then trying to figure out how to handle the current DANGEROUS situation, then maybe they would do something.

Does anyone know they chain of command for Acura? I've got to take this higher up than Acura Canada, however I'm not sure who to contact.
Someone is going to get into a serious accident becuase of this fault and I'm going to do everything in my power to make Acura aware and accountable for this issue.


John

 

I've seen it happen with my car before too....not that often though. I assumed I mis-shifted or something as I shift about 3/4 of the time myself in SS mode.

 

This happened to me today. I was trying to get around some slow moving trucks so I got on the throttle a little and next thing I know I hear the revs very high and the car is acting weird. The nearest dealer is only 5050 miles away since Im in Turkey and they dont have Acuras here. I tryed the manual + - and the gears would not shift. I tryed slowing down and putting it in Low. But nothing, it was stuck in second gear until I slowed down allot . Then everything went to normal again. The roads were dry and the VSA on but the roads here are so slick since they never renew them the VSA always blinks when Im gunning it on dry slick roads. Its an 06 TL. You mentioned snow and icy conditions there . Maybe it has something to do with slippery surfaces and gears. I turned the VSA to see if it will happen without it as well.

 

Mine has done it once. Roads were wet, I was pissed at my noisy tires so I turned VSA off and floored it. Stayed near redline in second gear with the tires spinning most of the time. When I let off the gas it stayed in second for a few seconds and eventually shifted normal. I thought this might be the "logic" holding it in second thinking I'm racing or something.

 

That is awesome. I wish I had that in the car when it was left in the bodyshop and I'm 90% sure it was wrecked and abused.

 

Mine did the same thing. I was pulling out on to the highway from an icy interection, the wheels were spinning and the orange triangle was blinking, when I finally hit the dry pavement of the highway I took of like a rocket. The only problem was the car was stuck in second gear. I drove for about 1.5 miles at 60mph and the car tacking an absurd number, I tried manual shift and nohting. I didn't want to go on the shoulder because it had not been plowed yet but I had to, I couldn't continue to drive the car like that. Once I got the car slowed down to second gear range it shifted into 3rd and everything was find from then on. I Called Acura and they told me that the VSA will cause strange behavoir and that everthing was normal. It hasn't done it since, course we haven't had anymore snow yet. We will see.

 

Nooooooo, Not This Shyt Again... I Have Been Experiencing This Also 07 S Type Auto. This Is What Happened When My 2nd Gen 01 Did Before The Tranny Went Out... I Pray This Is Not The Case. I Thought For Sure They Fixed The Tranny Issue....

 

I find it very interesting that others here are beginning to report this problem!! And this now gives me cause to make a detailed report to the Safety Board in Canada.

The part that angers me about this (as I believe it's a safety issue) is that the dealer was able to reproduce it yet nothing is wrong because they get no codes!!!

Also that data collection box looks like it might be a good tool. I've had my check engine light come on a few times, stay on and by the time I get to the dealer 150km away and weeks later the lights out and they can't find a frikin' code. I Fuc&*^^ near punched this stupid mechanic who told me it was probably the VSA light that I was seeing!!!
And this Nimrod is working on my car !!!!!!!

John

 

For the ppl who have experienced this problem, what happens if you just hit on the brakes when it's stuck on 2nd gear?

 

Hitting the brake didn't work for me, the car only shifted out of 2nd when the car was slowed down to 2nd gear range and then it shifted to 3rd

 

Maybe... The rev's are too high, and the computer realizes that in order to prevent damage to the tranny it will not shift till its in an "ideal" range?

 

I have an 05 with 65,000 miles on it and the trans seemed to have similiar problems. I took it the dealer and asked them to flush and refill. The service said i probably don't need that and just need a drain and refill, but I insisted because the fluid was brown, and I wiped it on a white napkin and it was really bad looking. Anyways, after they did this, the fluid was reddish again and the car runs a lot better now. No more wierd shifting when slowing down either and the droning effect gone. They suggested i drain and refill after another 30,000 miles or else do the flush again in another 60,000. By the flush, I mean they drain and refilled it 3 x and drove it inbetween each time to get to the fluid in the trans. it was expensive but worth it.

 

That's some scary shit. I could just imagine how scary it must be in a car that you can't even stop! I don't even know what I would have done...definitely would be in major panic mode for sure. I may have ended up pulling the emergency brake or something, but it sounds like that would not have worked anyway. Someone on here mentioned that they had to put it in "N" for it to shift normally again.

 

I did a 1 x drain and refill at around 20K with my 06. I was planning on doing another 1 x drain and refill at around 40K (I'm currently at 34K). Now I'm thinking I should just go ahead and do a 3 x drain and refill at around 40K and not wait until 60K....don't mind if it's expensive...it's more of a safety measure. Surely don't want to experience anything even close to what these guys are talking about in here.

How much did it cost you BTW?

 

I had this problem like 2 or 3 times in my 06 TL.... same exact situation.

Havent had it yet on the 08 TL-S

 

I didn't have any trouble with the brakes, the car would stop just fine. I was just responding to the question" Would hitting the brakes make it shift"

 

Got ya

 

" For the ppl who have experienced this problem, what happens if you just hit on the brakes when it's stuck on 2nd gear?"

Not a thing other than slow the car down. In my last encounter it was winter, and I'm in the passing lane beside two cars, redlined with the rev. limiter holding me out.

VERY SCARY !!

John

 

I don't think so as I am able to reproduce this problem, because I live in a climate where the roads can be snow covered or icy.
Once the VSA kicks in and out regardless if you redline or not she isn't coming out of second until you slow down to 52 km/hr.
I've documented all this with Acura Canada and kept records so that the wife can sue there asses if I get killed because of this issue they refuse to acknowledge .

The part I have not figured out is what is causing the issue! I can spin the tires, VSA comes on, yadda yadda, but it might get stuck in second once out of twenty times? And I am driving the car hard when it happens.