Car wont shift out of 1st...rare incident
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Car wont shift out of 1st...rare incident
OK fellas. I've searched the forum and found lot of people reporting transmission issues like the lurch, clunk, and the one where the gears never engage. Today I ran into this issue for the second time since I've owned my car.
1st time it happened I started the car like normal and drove off. After a few minutes, I noticed the engine was making more noise than normal and I figured out that it had never shifted out of 1st gear even at 40mph. I drove for a few more minutes to see if it would correct itself, and I put it in manual mode to see if it would shift..no go. So I pulled over, turned the car off and on again and it was fine after that. This was about a month ago.
Fast forward to today. I'm on the highway cruising at 75MPH. About 3 hours into my trip i disengaged the cruise and when I tried to accelerate again I had very little power, it would slowly creep up in speed, but it wouldn't downshift at all. Once I got off the highway in stop and go traffic, I realized it was doing the same thing as before when it wouldn't shift. Just stuck in a gear (not sure if it was 1st or 2nd). I once again pulled over and rebooted the car. Problem was gone.
Neither time has produced a CEL or any message on my dash.
So my question is, what could it be? I see a lot of people have had issues with the valve body and speed sensor but I'm not sure if my problem is the same. I have to take the car in for unrelated service this week, if I have them read the codes, would this show up?
Thanks!
1st time it happened I started the car like normal and drove off. After a few minutes, I noticed the engine was making more noise than normal and I figured out that it had never shifted out of 1st gear even at 40mph. I drove for a few more minutes to see if it would correct itself, and I put it in manual mode to see if it would shift..no go. So I pulled over, turned the car off and on again and it was fine after that. This was about a month ago.
Fast forward to today. I'm on the highway cruising at 75MPH. About 3 hours into my trip i disengaged the cruise and when I tried to accelerate again I had very little power, it would slowly creep up in speed, but it wouldn't downshift at all. Once I got off the highway in stop and go traffic, I realized it was doing the same thing as before when it wouldn't shift. Just stuck in a gear (not sure if it was 1st or 2nd). I once again pulled over and rebooted the car. Problem was gone.
Neither time has produced a CEL or any message on my dash.
So my question is, what could it be? I see a lot of people have had issues with the valve body and speed sensor but I'm not sure if my problem is the same. I have to take the car in for unrelated service this week, if I have them read the codes, would this show up?
Thanks!
#2
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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09 E320 Bluetec
I've had this happen a couple of times and it's always that I've bumped the shift lever putting the car in a specific gear. Restarting will work, as will holding it to the right for a few seconds while it goes back to D.
But that could just be me....
But that could just be me....
#3
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Location: los angeles
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2007 E350 sport p1
I had this exact same issue about a month ago, word for word, on the same day first while driving home from work on the freeway and second the streets about 15mins from home, went away after I rebooted car. took it to the dealer and explained to my SA, problem was an electrical short in the transmission internal sensor, covered and replaced by warranty. hope this helps, GL
#4
Junior Member
Thread Starter
I'm sure i'm not bumping the shifter. I've done this before.
#5
Junior Member
Thread Starter
I had this exact same issue about a month ago, word for word, on the same day first while driving home from work on the freeway and second the streets about 15mins from home, went away after I rebooted car. took it to the dealer and explained to my SA, problem was an electrical short in the transmission internal sensor, covered and replaced by warranty. hope this helps, GL