1G Limp Mode

[awdtsi724]

today when i started my car this morning it went into limp mode, i looked under the hood and found 2 wires pinched off on the harness with 10 wires going to the tranny so i rewired them back up and my car still is in limp mode...i tried everything disconnect the batterie checked the tcu it looks good and i cant find anyhting wrong.....the car wont start in park it has to be in neutral and its suck in third gear....is there any fuses or somthing else i can check? my guess is when the wires were pinched they grounded out and fried somthing...

 

[95TalonOwner]

Try and find another tcu to borrow somewhere to see if that is your problem. My bet is that your tcu is fried.

 

[awdtsi724]

i just got back from a junk yard and got another tcu i put it in and its still stuck in limp mode. any other ideas? is there a fuse anywhere that could have blown?

 

[JayRolla]

Autos have a neutral safety switch that will only let the car start in park or neutral. Sounds like the switch may have died if it starts in neutral only.

 

[awdtsi724]

it has to do with the fact that my cars stuck in limp mode, its never done this before im going to start retracing wires and tear it apart hopefully i can find my problem does anyone know if there is a FUSE BOX or anyhting for the tcu!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[boostcrazyawd]

Theres a fuse called "4a/t" check that, and check all connectors on the trans. If that doesn't work then theres something wrong. it could also be your gear position sensor,(the thing under the shift lever) that almost seems like it could be the problem since it wont start in park.

 

[TermTrky]

Okay, my DSM is stuck in limp mode as well. There is not exactly a fuse that can blow to cause it. Just because you put in another TCU thats used doesn't mean it is good, I've known 2 other people with transmissions stuck in 3rd on 1st gen DSM's. Can be the TCU, wiring, shift solenoid on the trans, or mechanical issue with your transmission. I still haven't figured mine out but I haven't really tried. Let me know if you fix it, I really want 1st back too :]

 

[Matt4g63]

My car was stuck in limp mode because two wires touched, I later found out that it fried the ECU, I borrowed and ECU to see if it was the problem and sure enough I needed to buy a new ECU.

 

[boostcrazyawd]

Look in your manual i kno atleast in my 1g there is a fuse called 4a/t, and if that blows it turns the tcu off hence limp mode. This happend to me put the new fuse in good as new. oh yea try pulling your tcu codes, theres a writeup in the auto trans section on how to do it, that will tell you alot.

 

[TermTrky]

Sweet! I didn't know there's a fuse for it. And Matt, by ECU you mean TCU correct? I pulled ECU codes but never TCU codes yet, I tried to pull TCU codes from my harness and got a TPS error for excessive voltage which would be sent by the ECU, so I'm unsure what went wrong. If my trans is stuck in 3rd for an electronic reason, do you think a TCU code would show for it?


Bah, turns out 4A/T fuse is good. First thing I do is take apart my TCU to see if it is failed.


Update: Took out ECU & one capacitor had leaked over some microcontrollers. Hm, I'm researching the manual shiftbox mod until I get a new TCU.

 

[awdtsi724]

sooo i found the fuse that goes to the overdrive and it was blown after them wires touched, replaced it then my car had a problem with not starting in park so i took the switch off that goes between the shift cable and the tranny and one of the springs was broke so i replaced that and she seems to be tunning good, got all gears n everything.

thanks for everyones input. one more question, has anyone ever heard of doing you own shift kit, my friend has a 2g all he did was cut one wire going to the tranny and grounded it out through a switch, one wire that it. the cars reacts the same as having a shift kit. ive done some research and cant really find much on it.
anyone hear of doing this?

 

[boostcrazyawd]

Yes that mod does work, it basically makes the trans shift at full line pressure. and you don't just ground the wire, you have to put a resistor inline. Although i am not sure of what resistor, just do a search for it.