Questions and Answers

Honda Accord Downshifting Wrong? Q. Mr Ciulla: I recently purchased a 1995 Honda Accord Aerodeck (station wagon, UK- spec). The vehicle is powered by a 2.0 liter 16-valve (non-VTEC) fuel injected 4-cylinder, backed by a 4-speed automatic, and it has covered 140,000 miles. My question relates to automatic downshifting.

At 50-70 mph, when I 'stand' on the throttle and would normally expect second or third gear, the car revs to its limit (it actually bounces off the rev- limiter for 0.5-1 second) then "finds" the correct gear as would be normally expected. Under normal (i.e. not forced-downshift) driving the car upshifts and downshifts normally, smoothly, and positively.

I was immediately concerned that the automatic itself might be dying, but its fluid level is normal, the fluid is clean and does not smell "hot," as would normally indicate a failing auto box. Further, when I downshift manually (using the gear selector instead of the accelerator), the transmission finds the requested gear correctly and positively, with no over-revving. I take this to mean the transmission itself is operating fine, but whatever is forcing its kickdowns is not functioning correctly.

Would you agree with this driver-seat diagnosis? Is it possible the throttle cable is out of adjustment and forcing kickdowns to be too "eager"? Can you offer any other suggestions?

Thanks very much!
Adam

A. At that speed the engine doesn't really want to down shift. Forcing it to down shift at that speed will make the rpms max out and reach the point where the PCM will shut the engine off. Try this, from a standing stop put the transmission in second gear and accelerate to 70 mph and see what happens. At best it would kick out of over drive, fourth gear, down to third.

I would check to see if the throttle valve (kick down) cable is adjusted correctly. At the transmission, push the throttle valve lever fully closed and loosen the lock nuts. Adjust the cable until there is no free play. To tailor the shift/lock-up characteristics to your driving expectations, you can adjust the throttle control cable up to 2 mm shorter than the "synchronized" point. Shorter = Sooner shift, Longer = Later shift.