I have a Hyundai Tuscon 2005 with 140K automatic transmission. Original Owner and has treated me well. Current issue is the transmission will not engage in reverse or park immediately when shifted most notibly first thing in the morning or in the late evening after sitting for a while. It acts as if it is in neutral until it engages after reving the engine for a while. Once it engages, it is a little sporadic for a few minutes and then all is fine for the rest of the day no matter how many times I start, stop or turn the car on or off. Runs like a champ until the next morning and it starts all over again. A couple of times the check engine light has come on and I can tell that the transmission is stuck in 3rd gear. I can’t manually get it to go up to 4th or down to 1 or 2. I can clear the code and then all is back to normal again with normal shifting again available. Has anyone experienced somthing similar? Short of a transmission rebuiild (whihc probably won’t happen) could it be electronic in nature since it comes and goes? Any feedback would be appreciated.
It could be the valve body and when it’s stuck in 3rd gear that means it’s in limp mode (can only drive in one gear). This tells you that there’s most likely an internal transmission fault. Best bet is read the codes. it may be that you eventually have to replace the transmission.