Car stopped accelerating on the highway

FLORIDAMAN

MEMBER
2003 HONDA ACCORD
2WD
AUTOMATIC
130,000 MILES

My car is a two door. Note before this the check engine light had been on for about two weeks but I hadn't had time to get it checked out.

Was driving on the highway with cruise control at about 70-80 mph when suddenly the following happened:

1) Speedometer went down to 0 despite car continuing at around 70 mph (at this point I turned cruise control off).

2) D4 light began blinking.

3) The car wouldn't accelerate. The tachometer would still rev properly and I could hear engine noise, but no response. Felt like the car was in neutral even though it wasn't (I checked). Car slowly began decelerating no matter what I did with the gas.

I pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the car. I restarted the engine after a few seconds and the car began working normally again.

Taking car to a mechanic today but would appreciate some idea of what I am dealing with before heading in.

2 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
43,262 POSTS

Hello,

It sounds like the VSS is going out (vehicle speed sensor) here is the location of the sensor. Check out the diagrams (Below). Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.

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Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 AT 2:12 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi FloridaMan,

There will be codes in the system so those will definitely point us in the right direction. However, from what you describe it very well could be related to the check engine light. However, the issue you experienced is a form of protection mode that the PCM puts the transmission into when it sees something that could be catastrophic to the trans.

When you said it felt like it was in neutral, that is because even though the shifter said it was in Drive the computer took it out and put it in neutral so that it didn't damage itself.

This could be anything from a simple sensor like a speed sensor, to a module, to a failed transmission. Because of this it is important to get those DTCs.

I attached a description about this trans which will explain how it works in general terms. When it says the PCM receives input signals, these are the sensors and other things that the PCM needs to monitor in order to function properly.

Feel free to run what they are recommending past us if you want us to see if it makes sense. Thanks

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