Revving high (6000rpm) in low gears

[zane0909]

Hey everybody,
I'm new to the forums but know that you are all very nice and helpful and was hoping I could at least be pointed in the right direction with my problem.

In the last two months, about 4 times, going from barely rolling (about 5 mph, maybe barely touching the gas) to accelerate to get to say 35 mph (i.e. turning out of a parking lot onto a street), my matrix (automatic 2004 XR)will accellerate, but instead of shifting into the second third gear as it should, it sounds (and the odometer jumps) up to around 6000rpm. The few times it's happened I've released the gas pedal, the rpm will drop back down, and when I accelerate a little again, it shifts and goes on just fine. I know if I just put the pedal to the floor or something like that this would be more understandable but I'm not flooring it (ever, but especially out of parking lots).

I thought this was odd but mostly blamed it on user error or something until my check engine light came on. I'm at 88k miles, oil changes are always on time and regular. I havent changed spark plugs, or transmission fluid (bad I know) but my car has given me zero reasons to suspect something was wrong. (Even when the rpms jump without shifting as described above,) I have zero noises coming from the engine, car, anything. I didn't want to have to pay for the engine to be "checked," if it was something like just replacing the transmission fluid (I'm not sure what the engine light can come on for, so I wasn't sure if something simple but bad may trigger it).

Thanks for all of your help and sorry for the lengthy post, I tried to just add as much as I thought I should.

[fishexpo101]

Give the age and mileage that you are at, first thing I'd get done is a transaxle fluid drain and refill with the appropriate fluid (Toyota Type T-IV ATF or compatible). Could even do a pan drop and clean/replace the transaxle filter and clean up any mud (fine metallic / clutch band material slurry) on the bottom of the transaxle pan.

Could be an PCM issue, as the transaxle logic might think that you are accelerating into a corner and holding first gear. Since it shifts when you let go of the gas pedal and acts normally afterwards - could be a sensor glitch or electrical noise confusing the PCM.

What I'm concered about is the CEL w=and what code is being tripped. Depending on the code, it could as simple as a fluid exchange and you are good to go (after resetting the ECM). Or it could point to a bad shift solenoid - which would mean the pan and possibly the valvebody in the transaxle needs to come out. Since there is no unusual noises other than the intermittent odd shifting behavior - this sounds most likely to be case.

Won't know for sure until you pull the code to see what is going on and go from there. Cannot just assume that a fluid drain and refill will fix it - I'd still go ahead and have the ATF fluid changed out, but without pulling the code with a scanner - you could be looking at a more costly fix down the road.