Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

Hello...I have a 1993 Civic and am curious about the way it is shifting. It feels like it isn't shifting into 3rd gear until 25 miles and hour or maybe 30 mph. Sometimes, if I am pressing on the gas pedal and gently back off, it will shift into 3rd.
If I acelerate from a dead start straight up to say 60 miles and hour, it feels fine.

But driving around the streets in mydevelopment around 20-25 mph, it feels like it should be in 3rd gear, not second...

Maybe it is me, but it feels a bit strange and that 3rd gear shouldcome on around 20 miles per hour correct?

Other than this, the trans seems fine, no slipping etc. Is this normal with Hondas?

Could this be a kickdown adjustment? Any ideas or feedback would be appreciated.

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

25MPH is slow? I must be shifting wrong cause thats usually when I shift to third in my 07 civic. Lately I been shifting at around 2500 RPM but I just love accelerating fast so I shift at like 4000rpm. 25MPH is around 3000 rpm for my car, I dunno about yours but 30Mph is a little slow for it to be shifting. I was watching my friends hyundai accent shifting and it was always at around 3000 rpm. Is it going higher then that before it shifts to 3rd?

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

Well first of all it sounds to me as if you have a stick shift. Every car I have ever driven with an automatic trans is always in 3rd gear putting around a residential street going 25-30 mph.

Seems like my Civic is buzzing along in second gear at 25-30 mph, which seems odd to me, at least in an automatic transmission.

I don't have a tachometer in my car...so I don't know how many rpm's I am turning.

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

I have a manual tranny and if I shift to 3rd at a speed slower than 25 mph, the acceleration in that gear is sluggish. So, your transmission is probably just shifting later on purpose so that when it shifts, it drops the engine into a better part of the power band for3rdgear. In other words, it shifts later so that you get better acceleration in the next gear.

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

my 98 civic does the same... stays in second until about 35mph

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

Doesn't that seem odd? All the cars I have ever owned always shift into 3rd around 25 mph...its odd to me and even my father thought it was strange?

Anyone else with a Honda/automatic that shifts this way? The trans feels tight and has no problems at all as far as I know other than it shifting a bit late into 3rd...maybe its just me!

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

maybe thats just to make the automatic civics faster. The longer its in a lower gear the more acceleration youget.

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

The Honda engines really need to wind up to 3000 rpm or more before they make much power. I don't know anything about Honda automatic but if it happens to be the type with a mechanical linkage from the throttle to the transmission, that may need adjusting. Ideally it would shift early when just putting around the neighborhood, but stay in lower gears longer for better acceleration when you press on the gas more. That's what the linkage is for.

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

mines a slow shifter also... how would you go about adjusting the linkage? that in the haynes manual?

RE: Slow to shift into 3rd gear - automatic trans
 

Doesn't really seem that odd to me... it really depends on the gas pressure as to when it shifts. i find with constant light pressure, it'll shift after 30mph, with heavy pressure even later, and with extremely light pressure, sooner than that... depends on how fast i want to go... i find if i want to hover at 35mph, it has issues with a slight uphill in 3rd, so it'll stay in 2nd the whole time for me...

never really took me as odd


but then again, i know 2nd can get up into 60 when you've got the gas on the floor