Drove the car today it stuck in 3rd gear will not shift to 4th in auto going 50-60 mph. When at stop light I switch to sport mode and was able to shift to 4th. Then switch back to auto on highway and everything was ok. It's the first time this happen. Have anybody had these issue before? Thank.

 

Most likely, it sounds like it was just the computer thinking that you were better off in third for the moment, based on your driving habits.

When you say stuck... just how stuck was it? Was it just cruising at like 4000 RPM? Or would it bounce off the red limiter if you calmly pressed on the gas and increased speed gradually?

The computer will sometimes hold gears for longer than expected if it thinks you're about to hit the throttle aggressively. Did you happen to just enter the highway on the on ramp and enter at an aggressive speed?

Either way, just keep an eye on it and see if it happens again or gets worse. If it bugs you, you can unplug the battery for 10 minutes to reset the ECU. But then you will have to recalibrate the windows and memory seats for them to function properly. For the windows, go to each door and hold the window button until the window is all the way down, wait 2 seconds then release. then all the way up, wait 2 seconds and release. For the seats, move each axis of the seat to each limit, ie all the way forward, all the way back, all the way up, all the way down.

 

Check our FAQ thread, there is an entry showing how to reset the ECU by pulling the fuse, so that you won't need to do anything with the windows, seats, etc.

I've only noticed the car aggressively holding a gear when the ECT is set to power mode, and even then, not as bad as what MWIS350 described.

 

I know what you've described because it happened to me ONCE on a HOT summer day immediately after taking a HARD, long right bend turn on-ramp onto the HWY. I just attributed it to the trans not being fully at operating temp and taking that corner so hard. Like you, once I noticed the trans not shifting, I put it into sport mode and up-shifted using the paddles. Then switched back to full auto; issue never has popped up again.

 

Thank for the tip. I was driving 50 from stop light normal drive it seem to be stuck on 3rd at around 3500-4000 rpm. It's normal now and haven't happen in couple day. That was the first time it happen and got me worry. I'll keep my eye on it.

 

I think it just need to warm up like you said. I been driving couple day and it's normal now.

 

Now that you mention it, that's when I would notice mine holding the gear too. After work, about 10 min into my drive when I get on the highway, I would take the on ramp fairly aggressively and merge onto the highway and that's the only time I would ever really notice it holding the gear.

 

Were you on ECT PWR? Perhaps you were experiencing the effects of AI-Shift Control?

 

This happened to me this morning
I have 215,000 miles on a 2006 IS 350 with 19 f sport forged wheels

I didn’t warm up my car fully on this 54 degree morning was a quarter warm
Went to make a sharp left turn, heard a click, and then my transmission was stuck in third gear!
I pulled over, put it in park and then drive and it started
shifting again. I hope this doesn’t happen again really scared me. Never had this before so from now ill warm it up completely when it’s cold

 

I wonder if from the factory there is a "safety" that is triggered to help save the trans in such a scenario. We all know that until warm, the trans won't see 6th gear. So I wonder if there is a "safety" for a cold, hard cornering scenario where it sees a drop in pressure and triggers this occurrence. Curious.

 

Mine is notorious for holding 4th and 5th after cresting a hill and descending on a what seems hardly be a declining slope. Knowing the road and what it will do, I know to get it in manual mode first otherwise paddles do nothing, it's stuck in 4th or 5th even if an abundance of throttle is applied.

 

My third gear was bouncing like the poster above mentioned. It wasn’t stuck at like say 4000 RPM. It almost felt like it didn’t even grab. I’ve never had 3rd gear get stuck. I’m thinking it is the valve body when I turned and that probably was the click noise.

Once I slammed on my brakes at this intersection with a stop sign and I thought someone rear ended me but it was actually my transmission with the rough downshift
i’m gonna go ahead and say that these transmission starts to have issues around 200k lol

I did hit something that dented my transmission pan and I am missing a couple bolts so I expected to have some issues

 

Sorry to hear but yeah it appears that you will have to get somebody to check the tranny and hope it is nothing major, good luck!