Car won't shif down when driving only reaches 30 mph

Greetings Patricia,

If you vehicle will not down shift and will not go past 30MPH what is happening is a fault or problem has been detected in the drivetrain and the computer in the car has put the car in LIMP mode. This is a mode that attempts to help prevent you from damaging something beyond repair by continuing to drive. It is strictly to be used to move the vehicle from the roadway and then to have it serviced.

You should not drive it any further. If the car is in limp mode you need to have someone do a diagnostic on the vehicle with a scanner and retrieve the trouble or DTC codes from the computer.

You can purchase or borrow a scanner from any reputable automotive store. Auto zone, Advance, NAPA even Walmart has some scanners.

There will be a connector under the dash that this scanner will fit into. Follow the instructions that come with the scanner.

Once the scanner is finished it will give you some trouble codes you can post up here and we can help you further.

Trouble codes will be something like - P0706 P0765 etc.

Report back and we can help you further.

Cheers

Monte