Rock Nova
02-02-2012, 05:59 AM
So I hop in my car to leave work yesterday afternoon (the drive in to work was uneventful - nothing to make me suspect any issues for the drive home) and the first strange thing to happen was when I tried to start the car, it began to start then shut off. This happened so quick I thought maybe I just didn't turn the key long enough to start.
Turn the key again and it fires right up. I put it in "D" and notice it went into gear a little hard. Then I see the transmission malfunction indicator light is lit up on the dash. (the gear with an ! in the center) There is a dealer on the way home so I decided to just try and drive it there and see how it goes. The car was driveable in all gears, only the gear shifts felt like I was being rear-ended everytime. Downshifts were even worse and had me bracing myself when I anticipated one coming. On the way to the shop I pulled over and turned the car off, put it into park and waited about 10 seconds before re-starting to see if the light would correct itself (mentioned in the manual). That didn't work so I just proceeded to the dealer.
I got there in time before the service shop was closed, but the techs were gone for the day already. But after being inside talking to the service manager for a bit, the light didn't come on when he started the car and put into "D". Hopefully there is a code stored since it seemed to be ok when he started it. So I left it with them. Any guesses on what it could be?
Maybe just a software issue?
Something more serious?
I didn't think to try reverse as that seems to be the most common issue with the step trans.
Oh and the car is an '05 with 70k miles.
Turn the key again and it fires right up. I put it in "D" and notice it went into gear a little hard. Then I see the transmission malfunction indicator light is lit up on the dash. (the gear with an ! in the center) There is a dealer on the way home so I decided to just try and drive it there and see how it goes. The car was driveable in all gears, only the gear shifts felt like I was being rear-ended everytime. Downshifts were even worse and had me bracing myself when I anticipated one coming. On the way to the shop I pulled over and turned the car off, put it into park and waited about 10 seconds before re-starting to see if the light would correct itself (mentioned in the manual). That didn't work so I just proceeded to the dealer.
I got there in time before the service shop was closed, but the techs were gone for the day already. But after being inside talking to the service manager for a bit, the light didn't come on when he started the car and put into "D". Hopefully there is a code stored since it seemed to be ok when he started it. So I left it with them. Any guesses on what it could be?
Maybe just a software issue?
Something more serious?
I didn't think to try reverse as that seems to be the most common issue with the step trans.
Oh and the car is an '05 with 70k miles.