I bought my 07 accord VP last Dec., and have put about 1.5k miles on it. Everything looks fine except the transmission feels not very smooth, especially on the first gear. Sometimes I can feel a slight lag or jerk when the trans shift in to or out of the first gear. I am sure I followed the accord manual during the break-in period. Now I am just wondering whether it is normal or not, do you guys have the same experience as me?
Yes, I can remember the same about first gear around 2 years ago when I bought my VP. I don't feel the same now. May be I am accustomed to it. Hope this can help.
I just brought home a brand spanking new EX-L V6 Accord on Saturday and overall love the car in terms of ride / driving dynamics. However, I'm hearing an intermittent rattle coming from the passenger side area when hitting bumps. Does anyone know if this is an issue that will sort itself out over time as the car breaks in and parts start to seat themselves or will I need to take action to eliminate the sound? It's loud enough to be annoying to me, but maybe I'm overly sensitive since the car's new. That's certainly my wife's take on the situation.
BTW, I did have to bring it to the dealership for another noise issue. I was hearing a loud warbling sound from the back of the car at speeds over 50 mph. Took it in and they finally isolated it to the sat radio antenna cover. It wasn't sealed down properly and wind was getting under it and cavitating, causing the warbling. So, if you ever start to hear such a sound, that may be the cause.
Try taking it back to the dealship and ask them to check for any loose nuts / bolts under the passenger seat area. Does it ratting under the same conditions with a person sitting on the seat? If it rattles when you decelerate (applying brakes) have them do a brake inspection.
I had several rattles in my 2003 Accord when it was new. Like you, I noticed them all the time. I got most of them resolved at the dealer and some of them sort of worked themselves out.
The advice I would give is to try to pay attention to any conditions that might help the dealer identify the noise--what it sounds like, where it seems to come from, any conditions that make it better or worse, which road(s) make the noise appear. I did as much of this as I could, and my dealer was very appreciative of this and was able to do a better job tracking them down. If possible, try to take the service manager for a test drive to point out the noises. Good luck.
ok so someone says his 06 Accord I4 auto can get to 100 mph no problem, fairly easily. I have tried to haul @zz on my 07 I4 AT(safely of course) and have been unable to get to 90 mph...any idea what's going on? I hold the pedal down pretty far for maybe another 10 seconds, but seems to not get past 88 mph. I've only tried this maybe 3 different times. I don't know anything about car engines and such. Please help with suggestions, so I can determine whether to take it to the dealer or not.
The Accord should hit 100 MPH in under 25 seconds from a standing start. I haven't tried 100 MPH (why would I? The top limit in my area is 70 MPH), but I have cruised at 87 MPH. I have little doubt the car would reach 100 MPH in a matter of less than 10 seconds by pinning the pedal to the floor. The top speed of the Accord 4-cylinder is 130 MPH or something close to it according to Car and Driver.
Yea this is why I think there might be some sort of problem. When I say I'm pushing the pedal for about 10 seconds, that is when I'm on the highway going about 75 mph. open stretch, no traffic- add 10 seconds to that, I would imagine I could hit 100. But I have trouble getting it to 90... Thoughts? (thanks thegraduate)
Well, are you in an automatic? Is it downshifting to 4th gear when you punch it? It may need to downshift if you are in a manual, I don't really know though, since mine is an auto.
Yea it's the I4 auto. I can't recall punching the accelerator perse, as sometimes it'll drop 2 gears, but I would imagine 5th gear would eventually take it past 90....right? I seem to only rise to 88ish and then just hang there...no further. Do you know any possible damage/irregularity that would prevent the car from getting to 100? computer problem, oxygen sensor, MAF/MAP.. like I said, I dont' know anything about cars so I'm just throwing words out here. If someone does know, please enlighten me. Thanks.
Does it get to 88 quickly, then suddenly stop? Or does it climb to 88 slowly? If it gets to 88 pretty easy, the rev limiter may be set too low. If it takes a while to get to 88, there may be other problems.
Well, assuming the car has more than a thousand miles on it, I'd simply floor it. This will cause a downshift to 4th (3rd might put it above redline, so I imagine 4th will be as low as it'll go above 85 MPH). In 4th, the engine will be in the heart of the powerband, making the car accelerate a lot quicker than it would in fifth. If you are at 85-90 MPH, trying to go faster is a lot harder at that speed than it is going from 55-60 MPH. You are pushing a LOT of air out of your way going that fast. When cruising at 80, just floor it (it'll be fun, but horrible for mileage). It shouldn't hurt the car (although driving this way everyday will wear your engine more quickly, but once or twice won't hurt ya), and it should push you to the speed you are looking for with enough time. If you are on flat ground, floor it from 80 MPH, and aren't hitting at least 95+ MPH in the next 15 seconds, you may have a problem. I'm thinking you just aren't giving the car enough throttle (but I could be quite wrong).
The max speed for the car is 130 MPH according to Motor Trend, I believe.
Does it get to 88 quickly, then suddenly stop? Or does it climb to 88 slowly? If it gets to 88 pretty easy, the rev limiter may be set too low. If it takes a while to get to 88, there may be other problems.
Hi elroy, and Grad: since the speed on how fast it gets to 88 is relative, i can't really say fast or slow. It climbs steadily to 80 if i push hard enough, then getting to 88 takes like..5 seconds I want to say (without downshifting it).
The car has several thousand miles, so i'm not too worried about mileage. Speaking of redline...can you redline the auto?? I have pushed HARD on the gas before...never takes it past 4k rpm. Even if I'm crusing at 50, I'll push the throttle DEEP, and it will downshift to 3rd, rev around 4k for maybe 1 second, then immediately upshift to 4th. I can't seem to get it anywhere near redline (not that I've intentionally tried). I agree, have seen 130 as the top speed. I bet it took 30 seconds to get there
If you keep the pedal to the floor, and the transmission in D, the rpms will go up to 6k rpm, then shift. You should be close to 90mph by the time the transmission shifts to 5th gear. Don't be afraid to push the pedal down, you will not burn up the engine, or go above redline, as long as the tranny is in Drive. Of course, if you are at all uncomfortable going that fast, and are not in a safe area, don't do it.
Well, floor the car and make sure it at least gets to 6,200 RPM, especially in first gear. If you are afraid of wheelspin, go to 20 MPH, then floor it. The car should downshift to first and hold it to around 40 MPH and 6,000-6,300 RPM.
Jcash, so we can compare apples to apples, I think you're gonna have to floor so we can compare with you (elroy has a V6, so I may be a little more help in determining some things since I have an I-4 Auto).
If you can, find an open space where you can floor the car and get it through one gear upshift (floor it at 20 MPH, it will drop to 1st gear, then note where the RPMs are when it changes to 2nd gear - they should be over 6k if you are truly flooring it). Then report back. The more you say, I'm thinking you just aren't pressing the throttle as much as you think you are. Just my 2 cents.
For fun, I'll punch my Accord tomorrow and see where it shifts to be sure I'll enjoy it!
Actually, at 90 MPH, he shouldn't have left 4th gear yet. In my 4-cyl (REDLINE IS 6,500) the trans should change gears a couple of hundred RPM below that, around 6,300.
It has a rev limiter. If you put it in a lower gear and floor it, once it reaches the rev limit, the fuel pump temporarily shuts down, until the revs get back down below the limit. I've hit the limiter a couple times in my stick shift Accord (it's very easy to do in first gear).
If you're only getting to 4 grand and it's shifting, I wouldn't really call that pushing "deep" into the accelerator. Just floor it. Then you'll see what your car can do.
The way you all are describing it, sounds like you need to practically stand up on the pedal to get to that speed. I know the ACcord is quite heavy, but I would've thought 100 would be no biggie. I will report back in a few days as it is raining here And i'm going to flatten the pedal...
Good point about watching the rpm shifts...I've just never seen mine past 4k. Tried, but to no avail.
how hard/deep are you pushing it when it gets to 5? I remember when I first test-drove the LX, the salesman seemed like he was abusing the car. The engine sounded like it was wheezing, but this is because he was smashing the pedal (on local roads,too - i think he was having a bad day). Needless to say, I wasn't going to buy the car that had 14 miles on it and he was just flooring the thing across the parking lot. Herein lies the disappointment when I discovered the huge difference between iVTEC and the original VTEC (I didn't know the newer models had iVTEC).
Well, from what I've read, the VTEC engages (or opens something) at higher revs and you get more power, and the iVTEC optimizes fuel econ and power over the entire range. This is what I have concluded from reading a lot of debates on this idea, so correct me if I'm wrong. There's nothing wrong with the iVTEC. I just thought the VTEC was more exciting and sporty with a manual of course. 'disappointment' was probably the wrong word... it's hard to explain. It's more of a personal preference, and I hadn't read much technical info about the Accord when I purchased. As soon as I get the chance I'll do WOT- have to admit, I'm worried about something exploding; never driven an automatic to such high rpms.
I've done it plenty of times, and trust me, nothing will blow up. Just make sure you car is broken in (at least 1,000 miles on it).
i-VTEC will optimize things across the rev-range, you are correct. VTEC made the engine more 'peaky,' with a notable switchover at the set RPM (our Odyssey was around 3,500 RPM). With the Accord with iVTEC, you'll have no sudden switchover, as it will always be in variable/optimize mode, as opposed to being in one of two modes. You were right about the differences, jcash.
Would it make you feel better if I told you my 1996 Accord (with 172k miles) hit 5,800 RPM today when I was trying to merge in a small space, and that nothing exploded, even after that many miles and years? The car burns no oil, by the way, with the only problem being a power door lock actuator on the back passenger door. No real engine problems have ever occurred, just typical maintenance.
As soon as I get the chance I'll do WOT- have to admit, I'm worried about something exploding; never driven an automatic to such high rpms.
I don't get this statement. What does the transmission have to do with engine rpm? I think it would be easier to redline a manual, because the automatic will shift before redline, as long as the tranny's in drive.
If you'll hold up a second and pay attention to what this guy (jdcash) has been saying, you'll see why we're asking him floor his car (which won't hurt a broken-in engine). Check the previous posts, where he's concerned that his car hasn't gone above 4k RPM. If he's giving it lots of throttle, and the car won't rev, that could be dangerous. The only way we know how to compare apples to apples (with throttle positions and shift points) is to floor it, and compare RPMs. We're not condoning flooring it all day long, just that it won't hurt your car, and your car should rev to near redline before shifting.
if he can't make 100+ MPH on a slow gradual increase in speed with torque convertor lockup - why see if he can get near redline via WOT?
you've already got the answer to his question. he's being artificially limited for some reason. why try harder to come to the same conclusion? it's sort of academic at this point isn't it?
Well, he may simply be reaching the point at which the amount of throttle he is giving it won't overcome the aerodynamic drag buildup, and it seems that jdcash is afraid of giving it more throttle. He hasn't indicated that the fuel has been cut as in a rev/max speed limiter, just that the car didn't seem capable of going faster. He also indicated that his car hasn't gone over 4k RPM, although he isn't sure how much throttle he has been giving it.
For these reasons, 1 good WOT run through a couple of gears would clear up a lot. If the car shifts at 4k at WOT, there is a problem. If it shifts near the redline (within a few hundred RPM even), then there likely isn't much of a problem, and it is a case of the driver not giving enough throttle to accelerate above the desired speed or to hit a certain RPM.
Ok so I tried as you said, dropped it to 2nd gear and put it to the floor. I got to about 60mph and then it shifted at 4.5 rpm (1st time over 4k !!). Since it shifted, I just released the pedal, but I could still hear the engine whirring (hard to describe, it's like when you are sitting in neutral and push the gas pedal). It would die down until the revs were same as the speed at which I was going. I think I'm going to just stop trying....there is no point in going to 6k, even if i could, since I dont' use it for everyday driving. I was just worried something was wrong with the car. Runs fine, mileage a tad below normal. Other than that no issues. Thanks for your help !
as a side note: Grad, when you say your car revs freely and shifts near the redline, is this on a typical non-roadrage drive? Or is this when you are pushing it hard? THanks.
Hello, everyone I just got a 07 SE. It is mainly for shopping and pleasure because we do not need car for commuting. According to 15% oil life which is about several thousand miles, I may need to do the oil change at most once every year. Should I follow the 15% rule or do the service in a specific period? I really put too little miles on my car. My last car only run 8000 miles in 2 years.
dropped it to 2nd gear and put it to the floor. I got to about 60mph and then it shifted at 4.5 rpm
If you are satisfied with 4.5k rpm at wide open throttle, that's cool. Personally I would never settle for that. To me, that's wasting a lot of the engine's power.
I called a serive manager just now. He said I should go for oil change every 3 months and ignore the oil life. To be honest, I do not believe him. Maybe he just want to earn money. My concern is that what is a good service schedule for me who do not drive much, which can keep my car in good condition and no trouble when I need warranty. I heard from someone warranty can be invalid if you do not follow the recommended service schedule. The problem is that the manual do not give a clear answer when should I do the service. What a mess!!!
Three months sounds like way to often to me. My 03 maintenance schedule says 10,000 miles, or one year, which ever comes first (normal conditions 4cyl). I probably would not wait a year myself (6 months maybe), but not 3 months, with so little mileage.
as a side note: Grad, when you say your car revs freely and shifts near the redline, is this on a typical non-roadrage drive? Or is this when you are pushing it hard? THanks.
No, the only time I see revs above 4k is when I punch it because i need power. Typically, my shifts occur between 2,500 and 3,200 in regular acceleration.
Earlier in your post, you mentioned you "dropped it to 2nd." Are you saying you pulled the gearshift into 2nd, locking the transmission in this gear? If so, why?
The problem is that the manual do not give a clear answer when should I do the service.
I answered this in the other thread but I'll be even more specific here. My 06 manual (same car as the 07) clearly states on p. 199 "If the message "Service Oil" does not appear more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the engine oil every year." It may be there in another place too.
In the Service History Book, on p. 6, "NOTE: If the wrench indicator does not appear on the instrument display more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the oil every year."
Every three months is crazy. If you don't want to wait for a year, then change it earlier but the manual is pretty clear to me... unless they left that out of the 07 version.
Ok that's good. I'm getting shifted around the 2500-3k range as well. I did say I was going to give up...eventually. Tried several times today...nothing over 4.5k. I was going about 80 mph, then i floored it, it didn't downshift; it only tried to accelerate faster in 5th. (i guess 80 is too fast to be downshifting to 4th).
When I said I dropped it to 2nd, I meant the car shifted to 2nd by the thrust of the pedal. I don't pull the lever manually while I'm in motion. Hope that is clearer.
Your car should've definitely downshifted at 80 MPH into 4th gear, something is wrong if you really floored it. It should hold 4th gear to over 100 MPH when floored.
You also say your car couldn't get over 4,500 RPM. That's not even up to the horsepower peak (which is well over 5,000 RPM, which the engine is obviously designed to run to). Call and schedule a dealer appointment and tell him your problem.
Could your tachometer be off? The reason I ask is that I've never had a car where it didn't get at least close to redline when shifting at wide open throttle.
I don't have an automatic accord, but I assume it would downshift to at least 4th gear if you floor it at 80, if not go down to 3rd (if only for a short burst).
At a steady 60mph, what does the tach read? My 5speed in 5th gear looks to be about 23/2400 rpm. I think the auto is a couple hundred less.
If the tach doesn't seem to be off, then I would take it to the dealership. Even if you never drive so that it shifts over 4000rpm, I would think if the trans is shifting at a max of 4500rpm even at WOT, then something is wrong that may cause you issues somewhere down the road.
At a steady 60mph, what does the tach read? My 5speed in 5th gear looks to be about 23/2400 rpm. I think the auto is a couple hundred less.
In our recently traded 2005 AND my 2006 Accords (both I4, BOTH Automatics), 60 MPH registered exactly 2,000 RPM, 90 MPH registered exactly 3,000 RPM, etc...
Your car should definitely downshift at 80MPH. At that speed in 5th, the car is near 2,700 RPM. You have a lot of room to climb in the revs. Take it to the dealer regardless.
"If the message "Service Oil" does not appear more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the engine oil every year."
This may be a dumb questions but when you say "reset" what does that mean? Do I have to take it to the dealer to get oil changes because it has the oil change indicator and it has to be reset? My BF has always changed my oil on my cars and I just don't want to waste money if I don't have to. I haven't bought the car yet but just wondering for in the future.
It's not a dumb question, but it is one that could be answered with a check of your owner's manual. It will come in handy for answering question like this, when you don't want to wait on someone to respond.
I know this doesn't fit the category of the discussion, but I can't get anybody to wake up on the proper board in the Civic forum, so I was hoping I might get some input from my standby folks here in Accord-land...
My grandparents have a 1997 Civic LX Automatic, in which the headlights and interior lights will flicker dim/bright/dim/bright regularly. It is not related to the A/C (the A/C was off last time I drove it and it still did it, RPMs aren't changing either so I don't think it is an engine load issue). The lights inside and out will dim to about 80-90% brightness and back to full brightness about ten times in fifteen seconds. With that being said, I have two questions:
1.) What else could this be other than the alternator? My granddad took it to a trusted mechanic (has worked on his truck for years) and he said it was probably the alternator, but couldn't be sure, that it could be an electrical system short somewhere. Please share your opinions/thoughts/other ideas about thee cause of this issue...AND
2.) If they go through with the alternator replacement, what would be a decent ballpark figure to expect to pay for it?
All input is welcome. If this gets moved, so be it, but I'd like an answer for their sake, since it is their "good car" that goes on trips.
It has 110,000 miles, and hasn't been driven hard.
If this condition only affects the lights, and no other electrical devices, I suspect the contacts in the light switch (technical term combination switch). Play around with the switch, and see if anything happens. If other electrical devices were affected, I would suspect a loose or corroded ground wire.
Comments
I bought my 07 accord VP last Dec., and have put about 1.5k miles on it. Everything looks fine except the transmission feels not very smooth, especially on the first gear. Sometimes I can feel a slight lag or jerk when the trans shift in to or out of the first gear. I am sure I followed the accord manual during the break-in period. Now I am just wondering whether it is normal or not, do you guys have the same experience as me?
I just brought home a brand spanking new EX-L V6 Accord on Saturday and overall love the car in terms of ride / driving dynamics. However, I'm hearing an intermittent rattle coming from the passenger side area when hitting bumps. Does anyone know if this is an issue that will sort itself out over time as the car breaks in and parts start to seat themselves or will I need to take action to eliminate the sound? It's loud enough to be annoying to me, but maybe I'm overly sensitive since the car's new. That's certainly my wife's take on the situation.
BTW, I did have to bring it to the dealership for another noise issue. I was hearing a loud warbling sound from the back of the car at speeds over 50 mph. Took it in and they finally isolated it to the sat radio antenna cover. It wasn't sealed down properly and wind was getting under it and cavitating, causing the warbling. So, if you ever start to hear such a sound, that may be the cause.
Thanks for any input on the rattling front!
The advice I would give is to try to pay attention to any conditions that might help the dealer identify the noise--what it sounds like, where it seems to come from, any conditions that make it better or worse, which road(s) make the noise appear. I did as much of this as I could, and my dealer was very appreciative of this and was able to do a better job tracking them down. If possible, try to take the service manager for a test drive to point out the noises. Good luck.
I have tried to haul @zz on my 07 I4 AT(safely of course) and have been unable to get to 90 mph...any idea what's going on? I hold the pedal down pretty far for maybe another 10 seconds, but seems to not get past 88 mph. I've only tried this maybe 3 different times. I don't know anything about car engines and such. Please help with suggestions, so I can determine whether to take it to the dealer or not.
Thoughts?
(thanks thegraduate)
Yea it's the I4 auto. I can't recall punching the accelerator perse, as sometimes it'll drop 2 gears, but I would imagine 5th gear would eventually take it past 90....right? I seem to only rise to 88ish and then just hang there...no further.
Do you know any possible damage/irregularity that would prevent the car from getting to 100? computer problem, oxygen sensor, MAF/MAP.. like I said, I dont' know anything about cars so I'm just throwing words out here. If someone does know, please enlighten me. Thanks.
The max speed for the car is 130 MPH according to Motor Trend, I believe.
Hi elroy, and Grad:
since the speed on how fast it gets to 88 is relative, i can't really say fast or slow. It climbs steadily to 80 if i push hard enough, then getting to 88 takes like..5 seconds I want to say (without downshifting it).
The car has several thousand miles, so i'm not too worried about mileage. Speaking of redline...can you redline the auto?? I have pushed HARD on the gas before...never takes it past 4k rpm. Even if I'm crusing at 50, I'll push the throttle DEEP, and it will downshift to 3rd, rev around 4k for maybe 1 second, then immediately upshift to 4th. I can't seem to get it anywhere near redline (not that I've intentionally tried). I agree, have seen 130 as the top speed. I bet it took 30 seconds to get there
Jcash, so we can compare apples to apples, I think you're gonna have to floor so we can compare with you (elroy has a V6, so I may be a little more help in determining some things since I have an I-4 Auto).
If you can, find an open space where you can floor the car and get it through one gear upshift (floor it at 20 MPH, it will drop to 1st gear, then note where the RPMs are when it changes to 2nd gear - they should be over 6k if you are truly flooring it). Then report back. The more you say, I'm thinking you just aren't pressing the throttle as much as you think you are. Just my 2 cents.
For fun, I'll punch my Accord tomorrow and see where it shifts to be sure
Take it out of D and put it into a low gear... then you'll redline it!!
If you're only getting to 4 grand and it's shifting, I wouldn't really call that pushing "deep" into the accelerator. Just floor it. Then you'll see what your car can do.
I will report back in a few days as it is raining here
And i'm going to flatten the pedal...
Good point about watching the rpm shifts...I've just never seen mine past 4k. Tried, but to no avail.
I remember when I first test-drove the LX, the salesman seemed like he was abusing the car. The engine sounded like it was wheezing, but this is because he was smashing the pedal (on local roads,too - i think he was having a bad day). Needless to say, I wasn't going to buy the car that had 14 miles on it and he was just flooring the thing across the parking lot. Herein lies the disappointment when I discovered the huge difference between iVTEC and the original VTEC (I didn't know the newer models had iVTEC).
The I4 Accord doesn't wheeze, it's actually got a nice engine note when wound up. Try it sometime!
There's nothing wrong with the iVTEC. I just thought the VTEC was more exciting and sporty
i-VTEC will optimize things across the rev-range, you are correct. VTEC made the engine more 'peaky,' with a notable switchover at the set RPM (our Odyssey was around 3,500 RPM). With the Accord with iVTEC, you'll have no sudden switchover, as it will always be in variable/optimize mode, as opposed to being in one of two modes. You were right about the differences, jcash.
Would it make you feel better if I told you my 1996 Accord (with 172k miles) hit 5,800 RPM today when I was trying to merge in a small space, and that nothing exploded, even after that many miles and years? The car burns no oil, by the way, with the only problem being a power door lock actuator on the back passenger door. No real engine problems have ever occurred, just typical maintenance.
I don't get this statement. What does the transmission have to do with engine rpm? I think it would be easier to redline a manual, because the automatic will shift before redline, as long as the tranny's in drive.
you've already got the answer to his question. he's being artificially limited for some reason. why try harder to come to the same conclusion? it's sort of academic at this point isn't it?
For these reasons, 1 good WOT run through a couple of gears would clear up a lot. If the car shifts at 4k at WOT, there is a problem. If it shifts near the redline (within a few hundred RPM even), then there likely isn't much of a problem, and it is a case of the driver not giving enough throttle to accelerate above the desired speed or to hit a certain RPM.
as a side note: Grad, when you say your car revs freely and shifts near the redline, is this on a typical non-roadrage drive? Or is this when you are pushing it hard? THanks.
I just got a 07 SE. It is mainly for shopping and pleasure because we do not need car for commuting. According to 15% oil life which is about several thousand miles, I may need to do the oil change at most once every year. Should I follow the 15% rule or do the service in a specific period? I really put too little miles on my car. My last car only run 8000 miles in 2 years.
If you are satisfied with 4.5k rpm at wide open throttle, that's cool. Personally I would never settle for that. To me, that's wasting a lot of the engine's power.
No, the only time I see revs above 4k is when I punch it because i need power. Typically, my shifts occur between 2,500 and 3,200 in regular acceleration.
Earlier in your post, you mentioned you "dropped it to 2nd." Are you saying you pulled the gearshift into 2nd, locking the transmission in this gear? If so, why?
I answered this in the other thread but I'll be even more specific here. My 06 manual (same car as the 07) clearly states on p. 199 "If the message "Service Oil" does not appear more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the engine oil every year." It may be there in another place too.
In the Service History Book, on p. 6, "NOTE: If the wrench indicator does not appear on the instrument display more than 12 months after the display is reset, change the oil every year."
Every three months is crazy. If you don't want to wait for a year, then change it earlier but the manual is pretty clear to me... unless they left that out of the 07 version.
I did say I was going to give up...eventually. Tried several times today...nothing over 4.5k. I was going about 80 mph, then i floored it, it didn't downshift; it only tried to accelerate faster in 5th. (i guess 80 is too fast to be downshifting to 4th).
When I said I dropped it to 2nd, I meant the car shifted to 2nd by the thrust of the pedal. I don't pull the lever manually while I'm in motion. Hope that is clearer.
You also say your car couldn't get over 4,500 RPM. That's not even up to the horsepower peak (which is well over 5,000 RPM, which the engine is obviously designed to run to). Call and schedule a dealer appointment and tell him your problem.
And yes, you cleared up the 2nd gear question.
I don't have an automatic accord, but I assume it would downshift to at least 4th gear if you floor it at 80, if not go down to 3rd (if only for a short burst).
At a steady 60mph, what does the tach read? My 5speed in 5th gear looks to be about 23/2400 rpm. I think the auto is a couple hundred less.
If the tach doesn't seem to be off, then I would take it to the dealership. Even if you never drive so that it shifts over 4000rpm, I would think if the trans is shifting at a max of 4500rpm even at WOT, then something is wrong that may cause you issues somewhere down the road.
In our recently traded 2005 AND my 2006 Accords (both I4, BOTH Automatics), 60 MPH registered exactly 2,000 RPM, 90 MPH registered exactly 3,000 RPM, etc...
Your car should definitely downshift at 80MPH. At that speed in 5th, the car is near 2,700 RPM. You have a lot of room to climb in the revs. Take it to the dealer regardless.
This may be a dumb questions but when you say "reset" what does that mean? Do I have to take it to the dealer to get oil changes because it has the oil change indicator and it has to be reset? My BF has always changed my oil on my cars and I just don't want to waste money if I don't have to. I haven't bought the car yet but just wondering for in the future.
You do want to make sure it is done though so that all future Maintenance Minder (MM) displays are accurate.
Best,
Thegrad
My grandparents have a 1997 Civic LX Automatic, in which the headlights and interior lights will flicker dim/bright/dim/bright regularly. It is not related to the A/C (the A/C was off last time I drove it and it still did it, RPMs aren't changing either so I don't think it is an engine load issue). The lights inside and out will dim to about 80-90% brightness and back to full brightness about ten times in fifteen seconds. With that being said, I have two questions:
1.) What else could this be other than the alternator? My granddad took it to a trusted mechanic (has worked on his truck for years) and he said it was probably the alternator, but couldn't be sure, that it could be an electrical system short somewhere. Please share your opinions/thoughts/other ideas about thee cause of this issue...AND
2.) If they go through with the alternator replacement, what would be a decent ballpark figure to expect to pay for it?
All input is welcome. If this gets moved, so be it, but I'd like an answer for their sake, since it is their "good car" that goes on trips.
It has 110,000 miles, and hasn't been driven hard.
Best,
Thegrad