Good afternoon all.

I'm hoping someone could give me some ideas on a problem my car is having that I could take to the local Honda dealership. They don't seem to be able to diagnose the problem I am having and have only managed to reproduce it once in their hands yet it happens almost everyday with me. I will try to explain the problem the best I can.

When I start my car cold (sitting for a few hours at least/overnight in the garage) and drive off, my car loses power completely while it shifts from 2nd-3rd & 3rd-4th gear (auto transmission). With the colder weather it seems to happen almost every time I go out after the car has been sitting for only a couple hours. To get the car going again I have to either hold the gas steady while it very slowly loses power and it will re-engage after about 15 seconds or slam down on the gas to force it to downshift and speed up.

The one time the dealership was able to reproduce the problem they had a datalogger on it and it indicated that the throttle sensor needed replacing. That was done and the very next day, same problem. Other than using the datalogger (which I'm not sure how i works with the car) there are no error codes showing up at all. I have also had other people drive the car with them reporting the same problem (so I'm not imagining it!!)!

Any suggestions would be great that I could take back to the dealership mechanic, I have found only one case on an auto website that was a similar problem but different vehicles/years. This has been a 2.5 month ongoing saga which is leaving both the dealership and myself very frustrated.

I thank you in advance for your assistance!
Deanna

 

How cold is cold (ie where do you live)? Do you have any problems when it's warm outside? I seem to remember that auto trannies sometimes are less smooth because the ATF fluid inside which works the torque converter gets thicker. I could be wrong though, I don't quite remember where I got this little tidbit of knowledge.

 

So far the temp has been sticking around -5 to +5 Celsius when this is happening. The usual winter temp is around -30 C for me but I had no problems the last two winters.

Having said that, with a temp of -15 this morning, the car behaved perfectly with no power loss. Go figure.

 

Holy cow that's cold :eek3:

Anyway, has your tranny fluid been changed recently?

 

damn thats cold... if i remember science class 0' celcius is 32' Farienhiet... so -15'C is like 10' Farienheit.. right

cold weather can really mess with a cars battery/electrical system and AT transmission fluid i believe is garenteed not to freeze down to -60'F .. but it will thicken as all liquids do in cold.. i dont think is a fluid problem though

i think it is something wrong with the electroinc sensor that makes the judgement call on when to shifrt gears for the tranny

 

Your conversion is pretty close to temperature Darn cold here, I agree, and colder tomorrow. Block heaters are standard features on all vehicles sold in my city.

As for the transmission fluid, it has not been changed and I have been following the recommended service intervals (8000 kms between services)pretty closely. I have 72000 kms on the car now (I commute out of town).

Would this elec sensor tie in with the throttle sensor at all? If the throttle sensor was replaced and not the other would it keep slowing down?

The other options people have mentioned to me is that it could be anything from the fuel pump to the fuel injection system.

I know I don't have a lot of information to be able to give everyone an accurate picture of what's happening but I do appreciate the responses and I'm keeping a list for the dealership to check over when I take the car back to them after the holidays.

Deanna

 

I'd be suspecting the trans fluid and filter. Cold weather raises hell on A/T cars.
there could be a bad connection on one of the lock up solenoids on the trans. Or even the TCU (Transmission Control Unit) itself. (like what LowSky mentioned)

It sounds like it's starving the engine for fuel... but I doubt it's directly fuel related since it only does it when you shift and it's obviously temperature dependant. All though a bad connection may wiggle just right when the car shifts....

the throttle sensor is directly tied to the ECU (Engine/Electronic Control Unit) and has little to do with other sensors. I'm not sure why they thought that was a problem. It wouldn't cause this unless it's seriously messed up or maybe they were simply grasping for straws and wanted you out of there for the holidays. (it happens)

 

I also don't think this has anything to do with fuel since it only occurs when you shift, although it could be a loose connection like Relic1 said.

I think the cheapest option is to get your transmission fluid checked/replaced and see what happens.