Transmission Problems

I have had my 08 honda accord for a couple of months now, I drive it everyday and put on about 120 miles a day. I used to have a 03 accord, but after 5 months and 70% of that time it being at the dealership for repair the dealership bought it back from me.

So anyway, I just started to take long distance trips in my new accord, and I am trying to see if anyone else is having a couple of problems I have noticed.

First off, I drive from Charlotte to Chicago every weekend with only about 12 hours in between the trip back from when i get there. I drive through the appalachian mountains and the smokey mountains and thats where my problems are noticeable.

When I am going DOWN HILL, at about 70mph my RPMS are at about 3300 to 3400. which is rediculusly high, and I LOOSE speed on a steep 7% grade. my old accord i could be going on a almost level road and i would keep my speed pretty close to the same for atleast half a mile to a mile.

when going up hill, I cant use cruise control because it violently shoots up to at some points 5 to 6,000 rpms

For being a accord I am getting horrible gas mileage. I used somewhere around 64 gallons of gas for a 1600 mile trip.....SOMETHING IS WRONG. I get about 450 miles to the tank of gas and I have to fill up 4 times with 16 gallons of gas. im getting 25 miles per gallon on 100% highway driving and i am supposed to get 31 something is seriously wrong with this.....

And after my last couple of experiences with honda, if this is a problem that has to be fixed (even the first time) im done with honda forever and they are taking that car back even though i have had it for so long. dont get me wrong, I love my car, i dont want to get rid of it, but after all, I am driving in the middle of no where from 7pm to 6am and i dont want something to happen in the mountains bc if i break down there, not only is it risking my life, its risking the life of whatever towing company and highway patrols lifes, and frankly its not worth a car.

That's what warranty is for... Take the car in and see what the problem is. Please keep us updated. With regards to your mileage, 1600 miles for 64 gallons = 25mpg. That's pretty spot on with EPA number (24). You are not going to get 31mpg going 70+ on highway.

Edit: You registered just to make that post? :confused:

I get better gas mileage driving 85 to 90+ almost 525 miles to the tank. on about 90% highway 10% back country road with only 4 stops and then back to 85. Im a speed junky, but i dont speed on my trip to chicago, i go the speed limit, and except for the mountains, i have cruise control on, I dont even have the A/C on and no windows down.

You need to be a little more specific in your response. Do you have a Automatic transmission? Do you have a V6 or an I4?

Is the high revving of the engine going downhill occur when you have cruise control activated or de-activated?

My experience is that the cruise control's purpose is to maintain a set speed. When going up a hill that has enough grade the cruise control will cause the motor to really work to keep it at the set speed. 6k doesn't seem uncommon if you have the I4. I can't speak about the V6.

As far as going downhill I assume this is with the cruise control activated as well. Remember, the job of the cruise control is to maintain the set speed. This includes going downhill as well as uphill. I always de-activate cruise control when I am going up a steep grade or back down a steep grade.

I'm assuming by your response you have the I4 with the Automatic. I would also say that with as much hill climbing you do, 450 miles on 16 gallons isn't that bad. I am only averaging in the mid twenties right now and I do mostly city driving. I think the type of driving you're doing could be more compared to city driving.

If this is a V6, with less than 10k miles, A/C on, and you're driving on the highway at more than 70mph. 25mpg sounds right.

Second, if you're going down a steep hill, the transmission will downshift or release the TQ converter due to "Grade Logic Control". This system dates back to 1994 in the Accord, and it has always worked this way. It downshifts in an attempt to keep you from gaining speed and constantly keeping on the brake pedal.

Also, I think that the automatic transmissions have what is called grade logic technology to where the car is brake torquing (i think thats what its called) so that the car does not speed up or lose control going downhill. Please stop me if im wrong, but that is one feature I remember the dealer mentioning on the Accords...

AZ.

I have I4 with auto. and no any mountain driving, cruise control is de-activated. I pull into right lane going up hill, and dont let the rpms go above 2700. unless its a long hill and i will let it go to 3300 max. The mountains are only about 150 miles of the drive, so it should only affect that part of the drive right???? Im getting that gas mileage all through the trip. I actually got better gas milage in my girl friends BMW Z4 this weekend making that trip, which is unheard of. Thats what made me start to think. I didnt want to take that trip in my car, i was just to worried about the rpms.

I last weekend i made the trip, i just put the car in neutral bc of the rpms.

I would rather be on the brake than having my car at that high of rpms bc that is killing me in the gas department

If this is a V6, with less than 10k miles, A/C on, and you're driving on the highway at more than 70mph. 25mpg sounds right.

Second, if you're going down a steep hill, the transmission will downshift or release the TQ converter due to "Grade Logic Control". This system dates back to 1994 in the Accord, and it has always worked this way. It downshifts in an attempt to keep you from gaining speed and constantly keeping on the brake pedal.

The a/c is OFF

The I4 is a pretty high revving motor. It seems like it doesn't hit the powerband until it climbs above 3k rpms.

On the last trip I took I went 190 miles one way with some hill climbing but probably not what you experience and the high revving 4 banger powered right through it. The motor might be working harder to keep up speed if you keep the rpms down while climbing a hill.

As far as the downhill "engine braking" you're experiencing I haven't really noticed anything out of the ordinary in my car.

I wish you good luck in figuring out your issues.

Also remember your GF's Z4 is lighter and more powerful than the I4 Accord. Even if she just has the 2.5. The less the motor has to work, the better the fuel mileage.

The I4 is a pretty high revving motor. It seems like it doesn't hit the powerband until it climbs above 3k rpms.

On the last trip I took I went 190 miles one way with some hill climbing but probably not what you experience and the high revving 4 banger powered right through it. The motor might be working harder to keep up speed if you keep the rpms down while climbing a hill.

As far as the downhill "engine braking" you're experiencing I haven't really noticed anything out of the ordinary in my car.

I wish you good luck in figuring out your issues.

Also remember your GF's Z4 is lighter and more powerful than the I4 Accord. Even if she just has the 2.5. The less the motor has to work, the better the fuel mileage.

lol, yah thats true about her car is 3.0 and i was also going about ohhh 120 all the way here except for in the mountains, but i do have to say, my honda takes the corners in the mountains a lot better than the z4. I was going to get a bmw til i noticed that the honda has way tighter steering, but we have nothing when it comes to hp.

No wonder you get terrible gas mileage.

120mph. Ridiculous and unsafe.

EPA estimates are at 65 mph with the A/C off I believe.

If you're going down a hill at high speed, the RPMS will go high up. Not un natural.

I see no problem. You'll be wasting your time with a dealer visit.

That's what warranty is for... Take the car in and see what the problem is. Please keep us updated. With regards to your mileage, 1600 miles for 64 gallons = 25mpg. That's pretty spot on with EPA number (24). You are not going to get 31mpg going 70+ on highway.

Edit: You registered just to make that post? :confused:

Actually I get 32mpg to the trip computer on cruise control for 72~73mph... i think thats the optimal you can get mpg style is going around 73mph

If this is a V6, with less than 10k miles, A/C on, and you're driving on the highway at more than 70mph. 25mpg sounds right.

Second, if you're going down a steep hill, the transmission will downshift or release the TQ converter due to "Grade Logic Control". This system dates back to 1994 in the Accord, and it has always worked this way. It downshifts in an attempt to keep you from gaining speed and constantly keeping on the brake pedal.

Yep, unless your in Neutral where the TQ Converter wont do anything and youll gain speed.

What I do for gaining mpg, When i know i am not going to stop and going downhill, i throw it in Neutral, but if im going to stop soon i will go into drive to do Engine Braking to help slow down.

No wonder you get terrible gas mileage.

120mph. Ridiculous and unsafe.

EPA estimates are at 65 mph with the A/C off I believe.

If you're going down a hill at high speed, the RPMS will go high up. Not un natural.

I see no problem. You'll be wasting your time with a dealer visit.

IM NOT GOING 120 IN MY CAR ON THAT TRIP. I ONLY DO THAT IN HER CAR, IM A SPEED FREAK, THATS WHY I GOT A HONDA INSTEAD OF A BMW, TO SLOW DOWN A LITTLE. PLUS MY INSURANCE COMPANY GAVE ME A LIST OF CARS AND IT WAS ON THE LIST. (I HAVE ABOUT 4 TICKETS OF GOING 50 + OVER, SHOULD HAVE LOST MY LICENSE BUT MY GIRL FRIEND'S DAD IS A VERY GOOD LAWYER LOL :)

I have had my 08 honda accord for a couple of months now, I drive it everyday and put on about 120 miles a day. I used to have a 03 accord, but after 5 months and 70% of that time it being at the dealership for repair the dealership bought it back from me.

So anyway, I just started to take long distance trips in my new accord, and I am trying to see if anyone else is having a couple of problems I have noticed.

First off, I drive from Charlotte to Chicago every weekend with only about 12 hours in between the trip back from when i get there. I drive through the appalachian mountains and the smokey mountains and thats where my problems are noticeable.

When I am going DOWN HILL, at about 70mph my RPMS are at about 3300 to 3400. which is rediculusly high, and I LOOSE speed on a steep 7% grade. my old accord i could be going on a almost level road and i would keep my speed pretty close to the same for atleast half a mile to a mile.

when going up hill, I cant use cruise control because it violently shoots up to at some points 5 to 6,000 rpms

For being a accord I am getting horrible gas mileage. I used somewhere around 64 gallons of gas for a 1600 mile trip.....SOMETHING IS WRONG. I get about 450 miles to the tank of gas and I have to fill up 4 times with 16 gallons of gas. im getting 25 miles per gallon on 100% highway driving and i am supposed to get 31 something is seriously wrong with this.....

And after my last couple of experiences with honda, if this is a problem that has to be fixed (even the first time) im done with honda forever and they are taking that car back even though i have had it for so long. dont get me wrong, I love my car, i dont want to get rid of it, but after all, I am driving in the middle of no where from 7pm to 6am and i dont want something to happen in the mountains bc if i break down there, not only is it risking my life, its risking the life of whatever towing company and highway patrols lifes, and frankly its not worth a car.

One day my car was behaving very similar to what you describe. I though there was something wrong with my transmission, until I noticed that I was driving in D3 and not in D, so the transmission only used 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear, and that was causing the ridiculously high rpms. And I constantly find myself accidentally putting the lever in D3 instead of D, I think it would be wise for Honda to require the driver to press the button in the shifter to be able to shift from D to D3.

im not sure about the high revs, ive never owned an automatic car, so I cant comment. However, using the brakes only going down hill with the car in neutral is a surefire way to overheat the brakes, boil the brake fluid and loose control.

Get it checked out with honda though. You might try seeing if a honda dealership in a hilly place will look at it they might know better, they also might be able to let you drive a similar car to compare.

best of luck.

I, too, have complaints about the I4. For starters, the MPG is not acceptable. I do the same 36 mile drive to work every day. 31 miles on the highway, 5 in the city. I never, ever, have gotten close to 30 MPG. With the I4! I drive 69 miles per hour on the dot unless I am stuck in traffic. I use my air conditioner, but I don't blast it, and it's more efficient than keeping the windows open over 55 MPH.

Secondly, the I4 just does not have enough power for the size of this car. I've driven other I4's, the Accord (mine is the EX model, so the 190 HP version) is just seriously lacking in oomph. I got the I4 for gas conservation, and expected it to have power issues, but now I'm not getting gas savings and the power issues are somewhat dangerous. If I need to accelerate quickly to avoid a problem on the highway, especially at the 55-65 MPH mark, I'm in serious trouble. I have a lot of 'dead space' on the pedal, meaning I press it down hard and nothing happens until the RPM's climb very high, and then I JOLT forward. It also makes driving in traffic that constantly changes speeds a nightmare. Also, for whatever reason, my car is loud and shakes a bit when I first cold start it in the morning. I have 8k miles on it as we speak. I had a ton of problems with my Maxima, but MPG and acceleration were not one of them. This car is NOT a joy to drive. I suspect the V6 is a very different story, however, I am not impressed.

How is that going to help the OPs situation because I think he successfully established a problem already. Maybe you have a factory-freak and not indicative of normal Accords? Congrats! :thmsup: but it didn't help the OP. :thumbsdow

J30, :dunno: if you noticed but "scaccordil" IS the OP. :naughty:


I drive through the appalachian mountains and the smokey mountains and thats where my problems are noticeable.

When I am going DOWN HILL, at about 70mph my RPMS are at about 3300 to 3400. which is rediculusly high, and I LOOSE speed on a steep 7% grade. my old accord i could be going on a almost level road and i would keep my speed pretty close to the same for atleast half a mile to a mile.

when going up hill, I cant use cruise control because it violently shoots up to at some points 5 to 6,000 rpms

For being a accord I am getting horrible gas mileage. I used somewhere around 64 gallons of gas for a 1600 mile trip.....SOMETHING IS WRONG. I get about 450 miles to the tank of gas and I have to fill up 4 times with 16 gallons of gas. im getting 25 miles per gallon on 100% highway driving and i am supposed to get 31 something is seriously wrong with this.....

scaccordil, i KNOW the road you are talking about as i drove it a couple of weeks back. going downhill, i noticed a similar behavior in my accord but didn't think much of it since i believed it was "grade logic control" working. however, if i took the downhill at less than 65MPH, RPMs didn't seem to get that high.

uphill, i did feel a short surge at times especially when i set my cruise control to +75MPH and the car started to lose momentum. RPMs would climb up to ~3500 just until the cruise speed was met and would go back to less then 2000RPMS again.

i guess the four banger's engine does have to work overtime. incidentally, even with AC on, i got the best mileage on the accord on this stage of the trip - 33.24MPG. (my city mileage ****s: 16-22MPGs only.)

Only reason to get the I4 is if you just can't afford the V6 IMO. As it was said over and over again, mpg is not a big difference. And if you like to travel fast, it's probably worse than the V6, especially when climbing. Glad I didn't consider it. Good luck guys. And next time you know what to get.
JC

I do the same 36 mile drive to work every day. 31 miles on the highway, 5 in the city. I never, ever, have gotten close to 30 MPG. With the I4! I drive 69 miles per hour on the dot unless I am stuck in traffic. I use my air conditioner, but I don't blast it, and it's more efficient than keeping the windows open over 55 MPH.

Once the A/C is turned on and the compressor engages, it's a done deal for the mpg and power loss. It doesn't matter what you turn the temp knob or fan speed to since the compressor will cycle the same regardless.

Without owning one of the 8th gen I4's this is well into the guessing side but I still think something is not quite right on these setups. They did the reflash when first released for 4 bangers, but I fear there is more of a problem still not addressed. It may be just a little too much car for this motor's torque curve but it should still bring back good mpg numbers in some of the more ideal environments (no extreme temps, flat road, etc). Something's just not quite right somewhere...

Keep Honda involved guys. It's the best chance for a resolution if there is one.

Let's not forget to mention our accords are drive-by-wire. There is a lag stepping on the gas before the computer will upshift the transmission. I have notice this myself with my V6.

I, too, have complaints about the I4. For starters, the MPG is not acceptable. I do the same 36 mile drive to work every day. 31 miles on the highway, 5 in the city. I never, ever, have gotten close to 30 MPG. With the I4! I drive 69 miles per hour on the dot unless I am stuck in traffic. I use my air conditioner, but I don't blast it, and it's more efficient than keeping the windows open over 55 MPH.

Secondly, the I4 just does not have enough power for the size of this car. I've driven other I4's, the Accord (mine is the EX model, so the 190 HP version) is just seriously lacking in oomph. I got the I4 for gas conservation, and expected it to have power issues, but now I'm not getting gas savings and the power issues are somewhat dangerous. If I need to accelerate quickly to avoid a problem on the highway, especially at the 55-65 MPH mark, I'm in serious trouble. I have a lot of 'dead space' on the pedal, meaning I press it down hard and nothing happens until the RPM's climb very high, and then I JOLT forward. It also makes driving in traffic that constantly changes speeds a nightmare. Also, for whatever reason, my car is loud and shakes a bit when I first cold start it in the morning. I have 8k miles on it as we speak. I had a ton of problems with my Maxima, but MPG and acceleration were not one of them. This car is NOT a joy to drive. I suspect the V6 is a very different story, however, I am not impressed.

It has to be the grade logic control. I live on a hill and it's about a 2 to 3 minute drive up and down it and my car does the EXACT same thing. When I'm going down the hill the RPM's go up way too high and I can't drive up the hill fast because it does the same thing. I looked thru my book and found that and figured that has to be it. I thought about putting my car in neutral when I go down the hill but then I'm not sure if it's hard on the transmission or not, so I don't.

I went to the dealership today to get my first oil change at 11,120 miles. and I brought it to their attention about my crappy gas mileage. and seeing as they all know me by name as soon as I walk through that door, they knew I was not joking.

Long story short, they ran my car thru some kind of engine/trans diagnostic test and they said everything looked fine, and said I really need to pay more attention and log the rpms at the speeds and pay close attention to the rpms in the mountains. They said there is no reason for my car to hit 5k rpms in cruise control because the engine ecu SHOULDNT let it go that high.

So I was talking to one of the mechanics that over the past year have become friends with, and I was telling him about the rpm ranges i have been hitting, and he advised me to either 1. dont go above 4,000 rpms and 2 if the car was about 4,500 for more than a minute, it would bein my best interest to have a tuner look at it to make sure something hasnt gone wrong with the ecu.

Conclusion, Second try of having a honda, but Im just to the point where I cant afford to have that car break down on me, the payments are way to high, and the horsepower and low end torque is no where to be found. Im just going to sell it back to the dealership, and take my gf bmw.

Anyone know how to go about selling it back to the dealership, and best way to cover the depreciated value without coming up with cash for it?

(I LOVE MY HONDA, ITS THE BEST RIDE I HAVE EVER HAD, BUT I JUST KEEP THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME, AND I DONT WANT IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN)

If you're going fast enough, or the incline is steep enough, the engine will keep downshifting to keep the pace, as high as the engine has to spin. Once the engine can't keep up, cruise disengages, but that it disengages at 4K is a lie, at least on my CRV. What you need to do is deactivate cruise as soon as you start climbing and take it easier on the engine. I often travel on 'wavy' highways, where there's a steep downhill followed by an uphill. If you're in cruise, the engine would be slowing down the car going downhill, only to fall on its face uphill. The best way to tackle that scenario is to keep the gas at a steady pace, meaning you'll speed up going down and slow down going up, saving a lot of gas and wear/tear over cruise at a steady speed. Similarly, you can gain some more speed before the uphill so you don't slow down to a crawl, or need to really push your little 4 banger. I'd learn how to live with the car, or you'd lose our a$$ man. But next time do yourself a favor and get the V6. Later.
JC

5MT ONLY with any Honda I4. The lack of low-end torque with these motors coupled with a slushbox is ridiculous.

With that said, my 2.4 (166hp) is more than adequate with the 5MT. I drove an auto before and the car was slow, lethargic and frankly boring.

First off, I drive from Charlotte to Chicago every weekend with only about 12 hours in between the trip back from when i get there. I drive through the appalachian mountains and the smokey mountains and thats where my problems are noticeable.

When I am going DOWN HILL, at about 70mph my RPMS are at about 3300 to 3400. which is rediculusly high, and I LOOSE speed on a steep 7% grade. my old accord i could be going on a almost level road and i would keep my speed pretty close to the same for atleast half a mile to a mile.

when going up hill, I cant use cruise control because it violently shoots up to at some points 5 to 6,000 rpms

For being a accord I am getting horrible gas mileage. I used somewhere around 64 gallons of gas for a 1600 mile trip.....SOMETHING IS WRONG. I get about 450 miles to the tank of gas and I have to fill up 4 times with 16 gallons of gas. im getting 25 miles per gallon on 100% highway driving and i am supposed to get 31 something is seriously wrong with this....I don't see your situation as a problem. You won't get good mileage until you are near 10k miles, it's a Honda-fact of life. My mileage shot up at around 7800 miles. Before that, I was at 28 mpg 100% highway, 5 over the limit 60-70 mph and basically flat. I am now at 31 mpg with the same conditions

The worst killer of mpg on the highway is speed and cruise up mountains. The cruise control downshifts to keep your speed that you told it to keep. It's only doing what you told it to do. Same concept with going downhill, it downshifts to keep the speed from being a runaway train. You want to increase mpg on the highway in the serous mountains, stop using cruise and don't floor it going up those inclines..

If you're going fast enough, or the incline is steep enough, the engine will keep downshifting to keep the pace, as high as the engine has to spin. Once the engine can't keep up, cruise disengages, but that it disengages at 4K is a lie, at least on my CRV. What you need to do is deactivate cruise as soon as you start climbing and take it easier on the engine. I often travel on 'wavy' highways, where there's a steep downhill followed by an uphill. If you're in cruise, the engine would be slowing down the car going downhill, only to fall on its face uphill. The best way to tackle that scenario is to keep the gas at a steady pace, meaning you'll speed up going down and slow down going up, saving a lot of gas and wear/tear over cruise at a steady speed. Similarly, you can gain some more speed before the uphill so you don't slow down to a crawl, or need to really push your little 4 banger. I'd learn how to live with the car, or you'd lose our a$$ man. But next time do yourself a favor and get the V6. Later.
JC

he didn't say it will dis-engage, he said that the ecu should be trying to figure out another way to keep the speed at a lower rpm. basicly it should be throwing more gas into the piston but without changing gears. constantly being at 4,000 rpms for almost 2.5 to 3 hours is going to kill the engine, no matter the make or model. Toyota 4 cylinders are the only engines that have proved running at or about 4,000 rpms cause little to no wear and tear (older models) I would die if i had one of those, bc they red line at 11,000 rpm some go to 11,500 (OLDER MODELS ONLY NOT THE NEWER ONES)

I didnt really want a v6, bc more engine = more weight = worse steering control

-my 2008accordCoupe4cyl. does just fine w/5speedManual.....I never would of bought a 4cyl. unless it had manualTranny!! NO WAY...