I have a 92 Accord that won't shift out of 2nd gear when in drive (up or down). It started off fine this morning, but before I got out of the neighborhood, I noticed it wouldn't up-shift, then when I let of the gas, it didn't downshift. Came to a stop, idled fine (TC dissengaged properly), but when I accelerated from a stop, still in 2nd. Shifting manually made no difference. Then I stopped, put it in park, turned off the ignition, restarted, no change. Park, reverse and neutral are all fine. Soloniod? Computer? I'm more familiar with manual trannies, so I'm stumped.

 

You might want to jumper the service connector and watch the D4 light to see if there is a code stored.
Is the speedo working? a bad VSS will cause shift problems.
Link to Service connector;
http://members.troublecodes.ne...n.jpg

 

Thanks for the reply, Hondadude. I went to check the codes per your instructions, however the diagram you provided doesn't match my car. There aren't any 2-wire connectors, but there is some sort of connector attatched to the side that has several wires (didn't count them, sorry), and a cap on the face. It appears to be a code reader terminal. I wouldn't know which ones to jump.

I'm leaning toward the TCU. The D4 light was constant-on (regardless park/reverse/neutral), so last night I disconnected the battery, and everything went back to normal; tranny shifted through all gears fine, so I'm guessing not likely anything internal. I only drove it a couple of miles though.

This morning the light was back on, and it was in a fixed gear again. However, this time it allowed me to manually shift into 1st, and all the other lights came on with their respective gears, even though D4 remained on as well.

Oh, and the speedometer does work regardless of symptoms.

 

Check your shift control solenoid, located on the top of the transmission, looks like two VTEC solenoids, sitting next to each other.

 

My Dads car had the same problem ( his car is a buick century) but it had the same symptoms basically, except when up shifting it would go into second hard, and it wouldnt downshift .. it was a bad VSS

 

It is the TCU. I have little doubt about it (d4 light on continuously), but you can take the cover off the TCU, and see for yourself. If the circuit boards have black spots on them (leaking capacitors), we have a winner. I would try to find a cheaper place to get a TCU, because the dealer will probably want $500 for a new one. Good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You might want to jumper the service connector and watch the D4 light to see if there is a code stored.
Is the speedo working? a bad VSS will cause shift problems.
Link to Service connector;
http://members.troublecodes.ne...n.jpg
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hondadude, I looked again, and the connector was there, just taped up out of the way (blue tape?). I jumped it, but the light didn't flash, it just stayed on; yet another thing that makes it sound like the TCU.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It is the TCU. I have little doubt about it (d4 light on continuously), but you can take the cover off the TCU, and see for yourself. If the circuit boards have black spots on them (leaking capacitors), we have a winner. I would try to find a cheaper place to get a TCU, because the dealer will probably want $500 for a new one. Good luck </TD></TR></TABLE>
That's my next step, I just wanted enough probable cause before I start pulling things apart. I found some rebuilt units on ebay from $135-185. I'll likely go that route. Hope that's the problem...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It is the TCU. I have little doubt about it (d4 light on continuously), but you can take the cover off the TCU, and see for yourself. If the circuit boards have black spots on them (leaking capacitors), we have a winner. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I opened it up, and the board looked clean. All of the other symptoms were there though, so I ordered a reman. That solved my problem, but now I has some odd new symptoms - revlovling around harsh, late shifting. The new D4 light isn't coming on at all now either, so I'm going to send it back for another. At least I know now that the innitial problem was indead the TCM.


Modified by gotdurt at 8:42 AM 12/18/2006

 

Try checking the level in the tranny.

If it's too low you lock up the tranny.