Acura Legend Forum banner

Please help with auto tranny

834 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  pnoye2
My `88 auto sedan starts out in 3rd gear. I can't get it to downshift by mashing the gas, but 2nd works fine if I put it in 2. I have fresh Honda ATF in there, all solenoids are clean, and I have worked with the kickdown cable. Any ideas? Could this be a TCU fault?

Long version:

For quite a while, she would sometimes shift to third when she shouldn't or she would refuse to downshift. It didn't happen all that often, so I didn't bother with it. This summer after a few hours of high speed driving, I got off the turnpike and when I slowed down a little she dropped into second and the revs shot up. When I drove the car it would drive fine for a few minutes and then suddenly drop into second at highway speeds. I was limited to driving under 50mph. I took it to my mechanic who sent me a tranny shop. The told me it was completely shot and not worth a rebuild. I had asked them to check the solenoids, but they gave up without doing so. I ended up buying a new Saab 92x, but kept my Legend in the driveway. I finally got around to checking the solenoids and sure enough they were crudded up. After cleaning those and then putting in new ATF the car dosen't suddenly drop into second anymore, but now it wont go into second when it is supposed to. The TCU could very well be shot because I had the sunroof leak and dump a ton of water on the floor on a couple occasions. Can anyone suggest anything to try? If I get the tranny fixed up, then I am going to fix a minor dent, replace a cracked head and tail light, get some seat covers and new side mouldings. I would really like to drive this car around again.
Thanks.
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
I would get that leaky sunroof taking care of first DRD before proceeding... then look into the TCU, with that much water inside your vehicle hopefuly other components under the floor carpeting didn't get toasted.

How long ago did you clean them solenoids and drain/fill with fresh ATF??? maybe just another series of cleaning and drain/fill with fresh ATF (preferably honda ATF) is just what it needs... otherwise, I'd take the tranny shop advice and start looking around for a replacement :( sorry!
Thanks for the reply. The solenoids were just cleaned, and the fluid is brand new. The leak happened during the spring when I was using the sun roof regularly. It's closed now and dosen't leak. The transmission is strong, I doubt it is bad, it just picks the wrong gear for the speed. That is why I am suspecting a bad TCU. I guess I will pull it and see how it looks next weekend.
DRD said:
The transmission is strong, I doubt it is bad, it just picks the wrong gear for the speed.
I'd double check your shift linkage and throttle cable to see if the shifter cable and throttle control needs adjustment... hope this helps, good luck!
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top