afterhours
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or the alternative title would be: how I tried to downshift out of D drive and into 3rd while going downhill -- and broke my car.
OK -- I'm driving down from Mt Rogers in Virginia, doing 25mph and riding the brake, and I want to have the engine do the work for me. Moving the automatic trannie shift lever from D to 3 is stiff -- I feel resistance. Surprised me, so I try again and it 'pops' into 3rd. The trannie downshifted as desired, but the lever wouldn't stay in 3rd. It wants to wobble back over to D. Nuts.
I stop completely, surprised that a modern car wouldn't gracefully go from Drive to a lower gear. It's a safety thing, and something I've never had to fight in any other vehicle before. But now the lever won't stay in the detent for 3 by itself. It will go into 2 and 1 and stay, and it stays in D until something lightly rests against it from the passenger side (pushing it to 3).
Is there something under that plastic cowling I can fix/replace, or are these dang detents part of a mechanism within the trannie? I'm happy to turn wrenches, but want to see if this is common (or a recall item
). Many thanks!
OK -- I'm driving down from Mt Rogers in Virginia, doing 25mph and riding the brake, and I want to have the engine do the work for me. Moving the automatic trannie shift lever from D to 3 is stiff -- I feel resistance. Surprised me, so I try again and it 'pops' into 3rd. The trannie downshifted as desired, but the lever wouldn't stay in 3rd. It wants to wobble back over to D. Nuts.
I stop completely, surprised that a modern car wouldn't gracefully go from Drive to a lower gear. It's a safety thing, and something I've never had to fight in any other vehicle before. But now the lever won't stay in the detent for 3 by itself. It will go into 2 and 1 and stay, and it stays in D until something lightly rests against it from the passenger side (pushing it to 3).
Is there something under that plastic cowling I can fix/replace, or are these dang detents part of a mechanism within the trannie? I'm happy to turn wrenches, but want to see if this is common (or a recall item
). Many thanks!
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