Occasional delay in shifts from first to second gear, an ideas?

Hey everyone, been having a problem with my accord recently. I notice that when I drive the car(which is usually every few weeks/days) there seems to be a lag shifting into second gear. This started happening not long after I got a P1739 code which ended up being a transmission switch filled with oil according to the mechanic. So the code's fixed(it hasn't gone back on at least), not sure if that had anything to do with what I'm experiencing now. I feel like after driving for a bit the slowness in the shifting stops, but first thing in the morning going up my driveway, and stopping at the first few stops I definitely notice a lag after the first shift.

As far as the car goes, it's a 1999 4cyl auto and has 160k miles on the tranny and it was rebuilt at around 110k I believe. I'm really hoping it's not the tranny getting ready to die..

Any thoughts on what the problem could be? Am I looking at a new tranny or could it be simpler? The car needs an oil change, and no idea the last time the transmission oil was changed so I assume that would be a start.

Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated, thank you!
Johnny

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by a lag. Do the RPMs go up before the car starts to accelerate?

When I had the auto tranny for this car (although just for a couple weeks), it was throwing a code for some transmission sensor. The shifting seemed rough in some gears, but not all the time. It wasn't like a slipping clutch, more like it didn't want to shift up then BAM it would shift into the next gear and the car would lurch forward. I remember reading that changing the sensor and replacing the fluid could make things smoother.

Is the transmission fluid low? It sounds like you may have low line pressure... Just a hunch, cant actually diagnose the shifting concerns without actually being there.
So. I would suspect low and/or dirty fluid first.

Varnell said:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by a lag. Do the RPMs go up before the car starts to accelerate?

When I had the auto tranny for this car (although just for a couple weeks), it was throwing a code for some transmission sensor. The shifting seemed rough in some gears, but not all the time. It wasn't like a slipping clutch, more like it didn't want to shift up then BAM it would shift into the next gear and the car would lurch forward. I remember reading that changing the sensor and replacing the fluid could make things smoother.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies
Basically when I can feel the rpm get to the point where it normally shifts there's a pause of a few seconds and then it shifts but only seems to be in second gear. I'll look into the sensor/fluid changing.

tori-san said:

Is the transmission fluid low? It sounds like you may have low line pressure... Just a hunch, cant actually diagnose the shifting concerns without actually being there.
So. I would suspect low and/or dirty fluid first.

Click to expand...

You could be right, it was my sister's car before so I know the fluid probably never got checked. I'll have the fluid checked first of all and see how things are.

Thanks you two

I have similar issues with my '01. Taking off in first gear is fine until the trans shifts to second and then the rpms go up like its slipping and then engages. Only 1 to 2nd. I have 150k on the original trans. Been reading that the accord auto trans is notorious for issues.

If I can chime in on this: Do you have a CEL light on? I just recently had my engine swapped and I was throwing a code saying "2nd clutch pressure switch failure" and that made my shifting from 1st to second delay by like a second or two almost.

I found out that mine wasn't fully plugged in, so I plugged it in and everything was great. Yours may just be that clutch pressure switch issue (either a faulty connector or a faulty switch/sensor) because if your trans was really slipping you'd know. If it's just a delay, I'd start there. (Also, I have an auto trans if you were wondering)

There is a delay because it releases 1st gear clutch fluid pressure, then loads 2nd gear clutch fluid pressure.

1-the fluid is dirty (old) so it's sludgy, it can't move fast enough for 2nd to engauge.

2-a sensor is whaked, but you (usually) get an MIL for this. It's in 'safe' mode, where it waits a bit to ensure it's safe, whether or not it can see it.

3-worn clutch, the first bit of pressure squishes springs, normally the clutch is engauging. If it's not engauging, from being worn, the final bit of pressure does. The delay is the time from the first bit, to the final bit.