Transmission not shifting?

I would bet that a mechanic would have an unfair advantage over us. They would possibly know by glancing at the car if the tranny is automatic or manual. I am guessing that this is automatic and I would like to know what kind of temps we are talking about. Secondly, have you considered replacing the fluid and filter as a small amount of moisture as in water from condensation could be causing problems with flow from ice, etc. Check out this guide to help us

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/automatic-transmission-problems

Please run down this guide and report back.

1991 Honda Accord Automatic Transmission won't shift and stay in 1st gear. Mileage of the car is about 120K. Engine size is 2.2 Lite. The problem won't show when the car is warm up for about few minutes. I am living in New York, and temperature is about 30-40 in winter. Thanks your advice.

I can not get the car to shift out of park. I have to put my key in the shift override on the shift area to get it out of park.

Hi ladymichelle92,

Check if the brake lights are working. If they are not, it would cause the interlock to prevent the gear shift from being shifted out of park.

Brake lights failure can be due to a faulty brake switch or a blown fuse.

putting the car in drive it acts like it is sliping down shift to first drives fine as long as you manualy shift. Try to leave it in drive and come to a stop it acts like it is sliping

How's the transmission fluid condition and level?

The transmission is slipping,have the TPS and VSS checked if okay-bring it in and have the transmission pressure tested to find out more-

Transmission problem
1991 Honda Accord 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 85.000 miles
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auto trans doesnt shift will shift manueally started not shifting sometimes when i pushed sport button on side of shifter then just quit shifting all together help please

Hi matthew,

Does the S mode light blinks after driving?

Did you check the ATF level and condition?

Transmission problem
1991 Honda Accord 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic

my 1991 honda accord Lx suddenly stop shifting, it would not shift out of first gear?

Hi axe41,

Does manually shifting it from 1 to 2 , D3 and D4 works?
Is the D4 or S light blinking?
Was any work carried prior to this happening?
Did you check the trans fluid level?

It is stuck in 4th gear. I can move the shifter in every gear while off. Engine running I can put it in 4th gear the car will move. If I put it in another gear the car won't move and cuts off.

try shifting at trans with engine off at trans with cables disconnected. see if linkage at trans is screwed up or cable broken. if it just happened this may be what is wrong.

My son accord won't shift out 2nd gear.You can manually select 1st or 2nd.In D3 or D4 it stays in 2nd. I can't get it out of S mode.Nothing happen when I push the sports switch, on the shifter

If the S mode indicator is blinking while driving, an error has been detected by the TCM.

You need to retrieve the trouble codes.
Flip up the passenger carpet under dash and locate a round sight glass.
Turn ignition switch on and note the blinking pattern to get the trouble code.

Quite often when transmission fails to shift for the year model, it is due to a faulty TCM.

The S light doesn't blink. It's solid.I,m having a hard time finding the wire to jumper to get codes.Does the wire unplug from something, or is it a loose wire. The interlock relay and stick shift solenoid chatter, with the ignition on.

For the year model, the TCM should have a LED light.
Flip up the passenger side carpet.
Turn ignition ON and note the blinking of the LED from the view window (round hole) on the ECM cover.
Count the blinking of the LED to get the code.

Under the shift lever there is only the interlock solenoid. Does it chatter only with the brake pedal depressed? The solenoid is not linked to TCM. Only to the brake switch and gear shift position.

Is the D4 and other indicators lights working correctly?

Erratic shifting could also be a fault with the TPS. Get it tested for smooth movement and correct voltage.

My 1990 Honda accord had a shifting problem. I took it to a transmission shop and they said that my computer may be bad. I got a couple of different computers and tried them in the car. They were probably the wrong ones because the car had trouble idling. I finally ordered a computer with the exact same numbers as the one that was originally in my vehicle, but it won't start. I am afraid that I may have messed something up while i was trying different computers. What can I do to possibly reset the car so it will run? (It is fuel injected)

Hi squizzers,

Thank you for the donation.

The Engine Control Unit ( ECU ) and Transmision Control Module ( TCM ) arer 2 different components. There are no settings required when replacing the components.

Did you recheck the ECU and TCM wire connectors?
Did you test if sparks or fuel is missing?

https://www.2carpros.com/kpages/first_things.htm

The above links provides information on how to go about testing the various components.

Were trouble codes retrieved prior to removing the the ECM and TCM?

I made sure that the wires to the ECU and the TCM were connected properly. The car has fuel and the spark plugs are good.

Prior to removing the ECU, there were no error codes. I have a repair manual and it says that a zero code is the sign of a faulty ECU so that is why I replaced it.

After I put the new ECU it was giving me a trouble code that indicated that the ELD was bad. Would this cause it to not start?

I just replaced the distributor rotor because the other one I had was cracked but it still doesn't start.

Thank you so much for answering my question. This car has been giving me problems for near a year and I just want to get it running. It's my first car btw.

A fault with the ELD would not cause non starting.

Did you check the fuel pressure? A faulty PGM-FI main relay can cause the fuel pump to stop working intermittently and the non starting.

If the engine had not been running for a while, the compression might drop. Get a compresison test done to see if the pressure are within specs.

Remove the spark plugs and pump a little engine oil into the spark plug holes to increase the compression and retest.

When the distributor was replaced, did you check the firing order?

I haven't checked any of those yet but my dad tried spraying some starting fluid and that didn't work. We checked the spark plugs to see if it was getting spark and they were giving off a spark, but it was yellow instead of blue. He also said that it seemed to be weak.

If there was a little bit of spark, the starting fluid should have kicked it on right?

Not necessarily. If the sparks are weak, which is the case here, the starting fluid could flood the cylinders and this would not start.

Weak sparks indicates a faulty ignition coil.

I have had this problem for 6-8 months now. Auto Trans.
Occasionally , the S light comes on and car does not shift automatically. It will shift using the console shifter, but when moved to D3 or D4 , car will not shift out of second gear. Removing the battery and reconnecting fixes the issue and it does not re occur for 4-6 months. (So far) Is there something I can check when in the failing mode? No lights on the TCM, I hate to just keep resetting the electronics, Fell my luck will run out soon :)

it will. you need a trans shop to test all the shift solenoids as well as pressure tests.

Roy

Thanks for the quick reply, Can the Solenoids be check when car is shifting ok, or do I need to wait for failure. Is there anything I can do without a lot of test equipment.
Nick

How Can I Make My Car Shift Correctly?

Before The Problem: The "s" Light Has All Ways Blinked Since I Purchased The Car. When The Ecu Was Jumped It Would Give An Error Code Of 12. (one Flash Pause And Then Two More Flashes) From What I Have Been Able To Find On The Net I Believe Code 12 Is A EGR Valve. The Car Had Been Running Fine So I Did Not Change The EGR Valve. Also I Don't Know If This Is Related But About A Year Ago My Speedometer Stopped Working For About A Week And Then Suddenly Started Working Again.

2 Days Ago While Driving The "s" Light Suddenly Lit Up To A Solid Green And The Car Down Shifted. It Is Now Stuck In That Gear. It Rained Extremely Hard Here This Weekend And I Wonder If The Rain Cause Something To Short. Some Times In The Past Few Days The "s" Light Will Start Flashing Again And The Car Begins To Shift Correctly. When The "s" Light Is Solid The Cruise Control Works. Which Is Very Strange Because It Has Never Worked Before.

If I Un Hook The Battery For A Few Minuets The "s" Light Starts Blinking Again And The Car Will Shift Correctly For A Short While. When The "s" Light Is Solid The Red Light On The Ecu Is Also Solid. Before The Car Goes Into Solid "s" Mode And Stops Shifting I Will Hear A Clicking Noise Come From Bellow My Shifting T Bar. I Can Put The Car In Reverse Or Neutral But When It Is In Drive It Will Not Down Shift.

Hello,

There are a few things it could be.....

The Lock Up Control Solenoid Valve

The Shift Control Solenoid Valve

Or possibly the Speed Sensor.....

Or even a combo of either...

With that year vehicle pulling code will only give you the engine codes it won't give the codes for the tranny.

Your best bet is to take it to a transmission shop for exact diagnosis.....

Try transmission fluid and filter changed-also have the coolant, throttle, vehicle speed sensors checked out-these components tells the computer how to control upshifts/downshifts/overdrive//lock-up -could also be a shifting solenoids hanging up.

You can get the tranny pressure tested to find out more why its doing it-

So you folks don't think it might be the Transmission Control Unit (TCM) ? The reason I ask is because It seem electrical.

What does this mean and does it offer any clues as to why my car is not shifting?

I am not able to really get a good understanding of the code. And doesn't specify year and make.

Have you checked all suggestions in the above posts?

Also yes it could be the tcm however, the other listed things can cause the problem. And we try to help save you money by testing or checking other things first. The price of the tcm can be as much as $500. The cheapest I have found in my area has been $245.

I have a 1990 Honda Accord, 385,000 miles, 2.2 engine, that will not go into third. It usually starts off with two quick shifts and when gets up to 40 mph, my rpm is around 3000 and it keeps going up. I had a major tuneup done on it 3 weeks ago when it was sputting after pushing the gas. Worked fine for a week but it started driving kinda sluggish...it would take off really slow and gradually gain speed. Sometimes I didn't hear it shift gears. When I have to go somewhere and I can coast in neutral I do that. Any help appreciated! Thx in advance!

When you had your major tune-up done did they flush the tranny, replace the filter and refill with Honda approved fluid?

Yes all of that was done. I found out that the transmission had been rebuilt one time before at around 200,000 miles.

I recently replaced the master cylinder on my Honda Accord. 2 days later the car would not shift very well and there was some smoke from under the engine (burning brake fluid from my repair job I think). Now, for the first 15-20 minutes of operation, the car seems to shift fine. After it's warmed-up, the transmission will not engage at all and I can't go over 10 mph. I'll pull it over, put it into Park, then put it into to L1, L2, or Drive, and the transmission will not engage except to an extremely slow crawl. The motor is runnng great. Some do-it-yourselfers have told me I may have ruptured the seal in my power brake booster. Others have said it sounds like a bad torque converter, or maybe the trans filter needs to be replaced. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me what you think may be the problem. I sure don't want to waste money letting mechanics replace parts till they find the problem. Thanks for your help!

Hi jreddin,

Your symptom points to insufficient fluid going through the system.

Did you check the ATF level?

If ATF level is correct, most probably the filter is clogged. Honda tran filters are maintenance free and if it happens, the trans is ready to be buried. Clogging of the filter is due to bits and pieces of clutch fragments dropping to the bottom.

Burning smell from the lower end might be due to ATF oil leakage getting onto the exhaust. Check if there are any leakages from the driveshaft seals.

i was driving my car and felt a pop in the clutch pedal. i try to down shift to second gear with the clutch pressed all the way down and it wont get into the gear. i pull of to the side of the road and turn the car off. i was able to put it into 1st gear while the car was off. i turned the car on and drove out of the road but it still wouldn't let me shift into 2nd gear. could this be a worn clutch cable?

Hi Reaper22,

It definitely is a fault with the clutch.

Is the clutch pedal free travel more than previously?
If you have pressure on the pedal but lower than previously and the fault is the cable, it would snap soon.