I'm a little puzzled by something my 92 Accord does sometimes at highway speeds. 70mph pretty much equals 3000rpm when everything is working like it should. Sometimes when the engine isn't quite warmed up completely, 70mph will equal about 3500rpm. It isn't in 3rd gear at 3500rpm, but it isn't in 4th either. Eventually it will "shift" sort of, and drop down to 3000 where it should be. I don't think its a slip, because I can feel it sort of shift when the rpms drop down. The transmission fluid is fresh and all other gears and shifting are fine. Do any of you know what this mysterious half gear may be?

 

It's 4th gear... before Overdrive kicks in.

 

Oh. I thought there were 4 gears period.

 

Trans Control Unit [TCU] waits for the engine to be fully warmed up, beforeit changes shift points.
So you won't get "lock-up" with a cold engine.

 

My bet is with hondadude, it's likely to be the torque converter not locking up until it reaches a certain operating temp. This means until it reaches this temp the converter will be acting like an old fashioned one, i.e. slipping a bit all the time and thus wasting power and fuel. The rpm will be a few hundred rpm higher if the converter hasn't locked up. I have no idea whether this is normal or not for your car, i.e. it may be supposed to do this or it may be supposed to lock up regardless of temp but is malfunctioning (?).

 

Thanks for the info. I was slightly worried about my transmission doing something stupid on me.

 

nope its all cool, mine does the exact same thing, I have to leave my house for work before the sun even rises and about halfway to work is when I'll hit full operating temp and the torque converter locks. so theres nothing to worry about.

 

when i was little i used to think my moms 89 cavilier wagon had 5 gears because of the torque converter lockup 'shift', hehe

 

when i was little i dont think i knew what a gear WAS :O

but yea its just the torque converter locking up, it talks about it in your owners manual, under the "How To Drive" section, lol.