P0893: Multiple Gears Engaged
Do not keep driving
Do not drive this vehicle. Have it recovered. A transmission with two gears engaged can lock the driveline, which at speed behaves like the handbrake being applied hard and without warning. If it happened while driving and the car then coasted with no drive at all, that was the transmission protecting you, and it should not be relied on to do so again.
What this code means
The transmission has more than one gear engaged at once. A planetary gearbox produces each ratio by holding some elements and releasing others, and applying two conflicting sets simultaneously does not give an average — it locks the gear train solid.
This is one of the few genuinely dangerous transmission faults rather than an expensive one. A locked gear train locks the driveline, and on a rear-wheel-drive vehicle at speed that can lock the driven wheels: the same event as pulling the handbrake on hard, without warning and with no ability to release it. Front-wheel drive is less severe but still a sudden and violent loss of drive.
Modules watch for this and respond by dumping line pressure the instant they detect it, which releases everything and leaves the vehicle coasting in neutral. That protection works well and is why the fault is far more often reported as a sudden total loss of drive than as a lock-up. But it depends on the module having pressure control and noticing in time, and neither is guaranteed.
The usual cause is a valve stuck in a position that routes pressure to a clutch that should be released — debris, or a bore worn enough that a valve no longer returns.
Likely causes
Start here
- Stuck valve in the valve body · specialist
- Debris in the transmission fluid · moderate
- Failed shift solenoid · moderate
Less common
- Worn valve body · specialist
- Internal transmission failure · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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