Hello all. I have come a long way with my recently purchased 1992 Honda Accord. It ran great for a week and then everything went to hell. Distributor went bad so I replaced that and the car quit stalling.

Around the same time the distributor went bad I began having terrible shifting issues. Both the engine and the d4 light were giving me a code 15. The engine was easy enough to diagnose as a distributor issue. The D4 light was a little more ambiguous. Apparently, on some models the d4 light code 15 is a speed sensor and on others it is "kick down switch short circuited".

I bought a manual and even that did not specify whether my vehicle had the kick down switch. I decided to reset the computer by disconnecting the battery. The transmissions performance remained horrible. Eventually I received a code from the D4 light. It was code 4- VEHICLE SPEED SENSOR. This through me off because everyone online says that if this was bad your speedometer would not work. I did not experience anything off with my speedometer. What I did experience was the engine RPMS going really high and my car excellerating very slowly until it got past first and second.

Anyways, I broke down and bought a VSS from ebay for 11$ They were 80-90$ everywhere else. I figure it should be good enough to at least tell me if the VSS is the source of my horrible shifting. After replacing the VSS I noticed an immediate performance boost. First to second shift at 15 miles per hour, but still has kinda high rpms to get there 3500, UNLESS THE CAR HAS BEEN SITTING. IF THAT IS THE CASE IT SHIFTS VERY SMOOTH WITHOUT HIGH RPMS.

The higher gears are sometimes not shifting now unless I take my foot off the excelerator. Then it will shift. I believe they call this late shifting.

I never received the code 15 for "kick down switch short circuited" since reseting the ECU. Someone recommended that I adjust the kickdown cable. Again, I am getting hard shifting and late shifting. Will adjusting this help? Also, where is this cable located and how do I adjust it to specifications. I need this explained to me in detail and speak to me as though I were completely ignorant, BECAUSE I AM. These recent car repairs are the first car repairs I have even done. It feels good.

I have not rules out that maybe I need a better VSS. The $90 ones from auto zone are likely better that the 11$ one I purchased from ebay.

My next step for the time being is to take the car to a Honda shop and have them replace transmission fluid with genuine Honda. The transmission fluid is topped off just fine, but I hear that without Honda fluid it may not run well. I dunno what type fluid it presently has.

Pictures with explanations would be awesome!

NOTE: I am thinking that I may have caused these transmission issues. Shortly after buying the car I began switching gears while driving to see the difference in drivability. I used to do this all the time with my 1994 Toyota tercel. Especially when Going up a hill I would go all the way down to d4 and fly up the hill. Is this bad for this particular vehicle? I have not done it since.

 

If you replaced the VSS, that problem is resolved. The inexpensive VSS's seem to work just fine.

Is the D4 light flashing? If yes, then code must be extracted to understand your problem.

Yes, adjusting the throttle cable can have dramatic effect on shift quality. You need a Honda shop manual to do this correctly. See Online Manuals post in DIY forum for download links. Any of 90-93 Accord models should work for your 92 DX.

Code 15 is NM Speed Sensor circuit fault in my 90 Accord manual which I think is same as yours. However, you need to find what's being presented currently.

good luck