QuestionI have a 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe that was working fine the day before but the check engine light came on for a while than went off. This morning it will not shift into 2nd. It shifts fine in to drive/1st gear, reverse and neutral but when you drive it will not shift out of 1st. Any suggestions??
AnswerThere are a large number of causes for the symptoms you describe. If the transmission control module (TCM) detects a serious issue that prevents the transmission from operating properly, it will place the transmission in 3rd gear and request the check engine lamp to be turned on.
To determine the nature of the problem, you'll need to read the trouble codes from the engine control module (ECM) and TCM. Auto Zone and AAMCO have advertised they'll do this for free, but it seems that some do not have a scanner capable of reading the codes from the TCM.
Once you retrieve the codes, report them back, and I'll advise you how to proceed.
Also, shift your transmission into drive and let me know what, if anything appears in the digital box immediately under the lamps indicating gear position in the instrument cluster. If there's a problem with the switches in the shifter or the shifter itself, the TCM may believe you've shifted into sport mode when you haven't. This can cause the transmission to stay in first gear until a very high rpm is reached.
The most frequent problems are with the input speed sensor and output speed sensor, but considering the large number of potential problems, I'm reluctant to recommend servicing them without evidence they're the issue.
