[dans12OB]

I have a 2012 2.5i OB with about 123,000 mi on it. Yesterday, after leaving the base gas station and filling up, I noticed my car not shifting out of 1st gear. I let off the accelerator and then went back on and it eventually shifted to the higher gears. At first, I thought I had accidentally knocked it into manual. When I made it to the interstate I accelerated up to about 70 mph and started to hear a rattling sound as I was pressing the accelerator and the engine would lose power sporadically as I was trying to accelerate and there were no lights being displayed on my dash. I've had problems before on an older car with the intake and it not being properly fastened that reminded me of this issue. I pulled over and opened the hood to take a look for any loose or disconnected fittings and didn't see anything. I peeked into the engine filter box and made sure that was properly aligned as well. When I got back into my car, I proceeded down the interstate with no trouble or any light being displayed on the dash. I'm going to swing by the local car parts store to see if any codes pop-up.

Does anyone have an idea of what the cause is? I've had no troubles driving it today and prob put on about 70 mi on the car. Im worried it's the transmission but don't know if there's a way to tell besides jamming on the gas to see if it slips at all (which it doesn't).

Thanks

 

[seagrass]

It sounds like you have an electrical problem.

Check the main battery cables. Make sure they are clean, tight and free of corrosion.

To check if they are tight on the battery try twisting the battery cable terminals, often the negative cable can be tight BUT you can still twist it on the battery post.

Seagrass

 

[dans12OB]

@seagrass, this sound promising and I’ll check the cables today. I have been meaning to change out my alternator as it’s on its way out. I had it tested about a month ago and it’s numbers are below the standard. I’m going to head to the parts department and buy a new alternator and hope that’s the solution.

 

[dans12OB]

If I don’t have a check engine light that’s on, and my AT Temp light isn’t on, how would they know it’s the transmission that’s going out? I’ve never had any slippage of my transmission before this instance. Currently have put over a 100mi on the car sense this incident and haven’t had any lights or problems. Does the car still throw codes if no lights are on?

 

[cardoc]

There could be fault codes on all the computers on the car that don't turn a warning light on, and generally these are related to battery issues, bad grounding, or things that doesn't affect emissions.

Anyone who knows what they're doing and has a diagnostic computer to hook up to that car to see the transmission data will know for sure if something's wrong with either the torque converter or the pulley system. It's not that hard.