New to the Hondas...please be gentle.
(*cliff notes at the bottom)

Just picked up a 92 Accord EX automatic transmission car today. Ran great at idle and small test drive. Literally minutes after I paid for it and went up the road in it, the CEL came on. Car still seemed to run and accelerate fine, but as soon as I got on the highway, it kept downshifting and the D4 light was flickering. Not having a clue what was wrong, I tried manually shifting into D3 and car never intermittently downshifted again. Obviously the RPM's were a bit higher than they normally would be, but made it home and hit the GOOGLE button.

That led me here...

I did the jumper test on the blue connector and got a Code 12, EGR.

I thought I read that this jumper will also give the transmission codes via the D4 light? I got no flashing of the D4 light whatsoever.

Car does take off from a dead stop in a gear other than 1st. No doubt.
Car will not shift into D4 at highway speed. If going slower, like 35 or so, it will shift into D4 and then as you gain speed it will keep downshifting and upshifting at no apparent regular intervals...in D3, seems to "drive" fine, but still takes off in 2nd gear from a stop...
One of the things I read while trying to troubleshoot this issue was that you should NOT be able to take the car out of Park with your foot not on the brake. I can, no problem.

Everything seems to point towards the TCM being bad. I read here it is a common problem. Rock Auto has them for roughly $150, unless someone can refer me to a vendor or sponsor that is comparable. I just got laid off so money IS an object.

*My main question...is there a free or very low buck low effort "fix" for the EGR issue? I saw in the DIY section, a link showing how to drill and clean the ports, but is there any other options? We will need this car as a daily driver starting on Monday, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

TCM's are available on ebay and car-part.com for reaonable prices. Be sure to match your part no. Too many problems w/ trying to cross-reference to other engines/trims.

You might try resetting the ECM/TCM first by pulling the BackUp fuse in under hood fuse box for 20 secs. You will need radio code if stock honda radio is still in place.

Check DIY forum for posts on EGR cleaning. This may be causing missing at highway speeds as too much EGR goes to 1-2 cylinders and others get none due to blockage.

good luck

 

Thanks for the reply, and the tips. I appreciate it.