stuck in first gear for a while

[skynet]

I was driving on the motorway around 80 mph, when suddenly the transmission shifted back to second gear. I first stepped on the gas pedal, thought it would shift back up. When it did not, I braked, then it shifted down to first gear. When I wanted to accelerate again, only the rpm went up to 5000, but no upshifting, so I quit trying, stopped in a "resting" place (fortunately there was one after 1 mile). I stopped the car, restarted, checked transmission oil level (gearshift in P, engine left running in idle until the fans came in), and it seemed there was enough. But when going back to the motorway, the shift stayed in first, no matter how high the rpm was (tried until cc. 5000 again). So I left the motorway and chose a local road. After about 20 miles of travelling in first gear (at cc. 25-30 mph), suddenly it shifted to second, then to third also. I managed to get home (another 30 miles) without any problem, the transmission worked normally afterwards.

What could be the case of the problem?
- overheating (constant 80-90 mph driving for 1 hour, then jumped in to a friend, then again 80 mph for about half an hour)
- almost right after a heavy rain I opened the engine cover and a lot of water ran over some parts of the engine, including some wires
- before the failure, I was stopped by the cops (for nothing - as it is common here in Hungary), and I stopped and restarted the engine while the gearshift was in D

Thanks for your suggestions and "sorry for me bed englisch" ;)

[Nicholas R]

Hmmm... well first off you definitely should not be able to start the car with the shifter in "D":hmm:

[DMCMW Dave]

Replace the computer governor.

[Ron]

+1
...check the GC harness for a rub or exhaust burn first since the circuit(s) work off of ground...

FYI- You can pull the fuse to force it to 3rd in an emergency, but keep in mind this is VERY hard on the clutches at low RPM.

[Elvis]

Hungary ?

Let me know if you are interested in a governor update made in Germany.

Pictures are available.


Elvis & 6548

[skynet]

Can't the reason be either overheating (constant 90 mph speed) or speed sensor fault? Being able to start in D or R is still strange but I would not replace the GC because of that.

[DeLorean03]

Hey Dave, is skynet's first post of the car randomly shifting an example of "slippage" ? How would you define these two scenarios:

1. You're driving along, when all of a sudden the auto tranny just starts randomly upshifting and downshifting by itself with no sound reason or cause.

2. You punch the gas and only the RPMs go up while the engine seems to basically remain as if it is "in neutral" .

I want to make sure I know the "one word definitions" for each of these descriptions. Thank you!

[DMCMW Dave]

[1] governor problem
[2] slipping

Governors fail in a couple of ways, but in general it means that it's in the wrong gear at the wrong time. Sometimes they will lose first gear, and the car will just start out in second and then shift to third. It will feel very sluggish. Sometimes you'll see random shifting as you drive, i.e. suddenly dropping from 3rd to 2nd for no reason. It is also common for the symptoms to change as the trans gets hot, sometimes better, sometimes worse.



Slipping feels like a bad clutch on a manual, i.e. you give it gas and the engine speeds up and the car does not. It is most noticable when the trans shifts from first to second gear. Normally the engine speed will drop immediately as the shift occurs, when the clutches start to fail the engine will slow down more slowly, or even flare (rev up) as the clutch slips. It will get worse as the clutch facings disintegrate. Keep your foot on it when it does this and you'll find out what permanent neutral feels like.







Hey Dave, is skynet's first post of the car randomly shifting an example of "slippage" ? How would you define these two scenarios:

1. You're driving along, when all of a sudden the auto tranny just starts randomly upshifting and downshifting by itself with no sound reason or cause.

2. You punch the gas and only the RPMs go up while the engine seems to basically remain as if it is "in neutral" .

I want to make sure I know the "one word definitions" for each of these descriptions. Thank you!

[Ron]

Can't the reason be either overheating (constant 90 mph speed) or speed sensor fault? Being able to start in D or R is still strange but I would not replace the GC because of that.
You should be able to drive it all day at any speed w/o it overheating. Towing too much/long could cause it to slip but, unless it caused damage, it wouldn't cause the shifting problems.
The "speed sensor" is an internal component internal to the GC.
[You should fix it being able to start in D or R no mater what!]
All of these problems could be a result of a burnt or shorted harness....



[1] governor problem


Hey, that's two words! :tongue:

I was trying to think of a one word definition and thought, "mis-shift", but that sounds like it skips a gear...or goes to neutral. "Mal-shift" just sounds odd...

FWIW- I think the most common term is "takes a random range" or "takes random gears".

[Jonathan]

Governors fail in a couple of ways...

When mine failed, it would keep it in the lower gear way too long. Meaning, instead of shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd nice and easy as you cruise through town, I was having the car stay in first all the way to about 55 km/h, then it would finally thunder into 2nd. It would stay there until it would finally thunder into 3rd at about 90 km/h. My wiring harness had some burn marks on it (sorry Dave!). We replaced the whole unit and it has been good ever since.

[David T]

Because he is mixing the shifting problem with the temp of the motor there are two possibilities. One, the shift computer is messing up and is temperature sensitive (common) and two, the wiring to the shift computer is getting melted on the exhaust pipes and is causing this (and will eventually damage the shift computer anyway!). Before anything else the wiring to the shift computer must be checked. This means unfastening the wires and physically examining EVERY INCH to see if there is any damage. If the wiring is not damaged then it is just the shift computer acting up. At this point it needs to be removed, opened, and repaired. Plenty of info on how to do that.
David Teitelbaum

[skynet]

It turned out that there were some modifications in the GC (the car has been serviced in the UK for a long period so I'm not really surprised) and now it works good. There was no need to replace anything.

Thanks for your suggestions, guys!