03 Accord V6 - P0980, no overdrive, sluggish starts
 

As the title says. Randomly got a blinking D light. Read the code and got a P0980. Sluggish starts and no overdrive. But still managed to get home from work at highway speeds in 4th gear. Can't find much info at all about this code and V6s. Any help appreciated.

How frequently has the ATF been serviced in your transmission and have you ever replaced the third and fourth gear pressure switches?

FWIW, P0980 means "Shift Solenoid C Control Circuit is High"

It hasn't been serviced much at all. It was rebuilt.
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The car has 345k miles on it The trans was rebuilt about 220k miles ago. I admittedly have not flushed the fluid and thought that it was advised against if it wasn't "kept up".

I'd love if it's something electrical but if the trans is hosed it's lived a great life

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I haven't serviced the ATF much at all. It has 345k on the car. Aboit 220k on rebuilt trans. Never replaced switches.

Then at this point the transmission is probably toast. Regarding "flushing" Honda transmissions, that is something which should never-ever be performed, however, what SHOULD be performed is a fluid drain and replacement every 30,000 miles and then what is called a "3x3" (three fluid replacements in quick succession with a few miles driven between changes) every 90,000 to 100,000 miles

Yeah, when I said flush, that's the process I was referring to.
Would a bad trans cause the shift solenoid code to come up? Or vice versa - the shift solenoid cause the sluggish starting and no OD?
Just wondering if it's worth it to try anything for a few bucks at this point.

As with pretty much everything else in automatic transmissions, "it depends". As automatic age the clutch material can clog passageways and filters and such; I've heard stories of clogged pressure switches and shift solenoids and all manner of other issues. The 5-Speed automatic in your car isn't known to be the most robust transmission, and with the number of miles on the ATF in there, it is a pretty good bet the tranny is done.

Thanks. I kinda figured that much. It has served me well. I thought perhaps since it was all of a sudden, that I may have had hope.

Well I guess the Honda lives on. Just got a call from my mechanic, he put a new solenoid in it and the problem went away. Guess that's a good thing for now. See how much longer I can get out of it.

Question, is it worth it at this point to do a 3 by 3 flush? I'm fine with doing it just want to know if it'll cause more harm than good.

Leaving the old ATF in is pretty much an old wives tale; I would do a 3x3 as soon as possible.