A few years ago my automatic Honda Accord had an issue where instead of kicking into 4th, it would start jumping between 3rd and 4th rapidly, about once a second. I took it back to the dealer and they claimed that the transmission control chip had "fried" and fixed it for about $15 before insurance.
I have no idea what actually went wrong, it's been working swell for 6 years after that now. My next car is going to be manual though, I no longer fully trust that sort of thing.
> transmission control chip had fried
> $15 before insurance
Was this outside of warranty? Because I've paid _hundreds_ for transmission control modules of all sorts: Dodge, FORD, Honda.
The "chips" they would be referencing are likely surface-mount not socket-mount on anything much newer than 1995. (I think my 1993 EEC-IV has a socket mount for the main processor but I haven't had it apart in ages.)
There is no way a brand new TCM is $15 before insurance; and I just don't see what "chip" they would be replacing that costs $15.
Gotta love Honda transmissions though; they've has had their fair share of rather interesting transmission reliability issues. My personal favorite comes from the Acura TL.[0]
"...as the third clutch pack wore, particles blocked off oil passages and prevented the transmission from shifting or holding gears normally. The transmission would slip, fail to shift, or suddenly downshift and make the car come to a screeching halt, even at freeway speeds..."
I honestly don't know, the car was a 2002, this was in 2007. I bought it used a year before (from by father). IIRC it had 115k miles on it when I bought it. I've been able to get another 60k on it since then.
I've never quite bought the "chip fried" line. My suspicion at the time was that this was a frequent issue that they were trying to keep somewhat under wraps (hence the near-free repair), but now I am wondering if there was a firmware issue that they fixed by reflashing something.
That or they couldn't find the issue and it resolved itself when they reset something...
I wish I had pressed for more details, but I was mostly just happy the transmission hadn't killed itself.
I have no idea what actually went wrong, it's been working swell for 6 years after that now. My next car is going to be manual though, I no longer fully trust that sort of thing.