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When you first start the car and engine and transmission are cold, the tranny engages and acclerates normally. But once you've driven for awhile and everything is warmed up, it slips (that is, if you press the accelerator, the engine rpm's go up, but the car itself does not accelerate forward).
Is that correct?
If so, I'm sorry to say I agree with your mechanic, it sounds like your drive gears are essentially burned out. The remedy would be to re-build the existing transmission, or replace it with a used or a new one.
Either way, continuing to drive it will only make it worse, so I'd take it in to a transmission shop or Honda dealer a.s.a.p. and get a definitive diagnosis.
P.S. if your reverse was out as well, I'd say you may get by with just a fluid and filter change. Sometimes enough water can condense over time in the fluid to cause slippage when hot, but usually then it's any gear. The fact that your reverse gear is fine makes me believe that this is not something simple like bad fluid, a plugged filter or such.
I don't know if the problem is the engine or the auto transmission but when the engine is cold and I try to drive it, the car will go for about 200' or so, then the RPM will quickly drop to very low (almost stall) and I can't even rev up the engine unless I slip the gear into "N". The engine then rev up right away and everything is back to normal and the car is ok to drive until I start out on a cold engine again. If I let the engine idle and warm up before driving then it works fine. It has been like this for over 6 months now. I thought the transmission fluid was dirty so I changed the transmission fluid for three time already...still didn't make any difference. The car has only 60K mikes. Please advise. Thanks.
I have a 96 Honda Civic DX with Auto Trans. I'm the original owner. This car was wonderful to me, never ever any problems (except for one I will describe below). The car never stopped, never failed starting, never broke down! I recently bought a new CRV. My neighbor would like to buy my Civic for his young son. However, for the last few months of my driving of this Civic, it was making small grinding noise when accelerating in about 36-40mph. Anything below that speed and above would not make any noise. It also does not make any noise within that 36-40 speed when it is cold. It seems to me like a transmission problem. I can fix anything including engines, but not automatic transmissions. What do you guys think about this problem? Would this require complete overhaul/rebuild?
Honestly, I want to sell this car to my neighbor for a very little price, only because it's a nice family that I know does not have much money. If I could get someone to fix it for me for couple hundred dollars I would do it, since I hate to sell the car with this problem. I know he won't be able to afford major repairs. Could anyone help in troubleshooting this? Or maybe even looking at this problem in MA area?
Thank you,
Jerold
I have a 2002 Civic LX Automatic, with the D17A2 motor. I just started experiencing this issue as well. Were you able to find a fix?
Here is some background on my car:
Prior to experiencing the issue you described, my Civic displayed a CEL with a diagnostic code of P0420. I removed the exhaust manifold/cat and replaced it with a DC Sports header, Random Technologies Cat, and Magnaflow muffler. As well, I installed a AEM V2 Cold Air Intake. I did this because the performance dropped to less than half (making me convinced that the cat was plugged).
During my cold air intake installation, I separated the electrical harness that held the connections between motor and:
Idle Air Control
MAP Sensor
and another sensor that is adjacent to the MAP sensor.
The reason for me doing this was because the IAC sensor could not reach the new/higher grommet hole in the cold air intake.
I've noticed depreciated gas mileage and recently was a quart low on synthetic oil after 4000 miles. Today, I had the oil changed and flushed the coolant. The tempurature runs between 190-206 degrees.
One thing I noticed is that when the car is cold, my timing is advanced between 6-11 degrees. After warm-up, my timing is 0 degrees BTDC. The MAP sensor shows a slight drop before the car warms up. Cold at idle varies from 6 to 9 inches of Mercury. Warm is steady at 9.
-John
i have the EXACT same problem as 'jerrydupek,' the odd rattle/grind noise b/w 36 and 40 mph that i also assume is transmission related. mine's a 97 civic DX auto trans, LOVE it, gets 42 mpg highway(!), no issues except this noise. i've had two different shops look at it over the past 9 months and naturally the noise didn't happen for either. after the 2nd mechanic trip, i headed to florida for the summer, and since here it seems to happen more often-- during the (virginia) winter, it only happened occasionally, after a couple hours of errand-running on surface streets, but during the florida summer, it's pretty much every time i drive. heading back to VA next week, searching the internet for a clue as to whether i should plan to drive only during daylight hours for safety in case this means something's about to fail... anyone have any advice for me?
love this website!
Likely it is unrelated, but who knows what got bumped while underneath the car.
I use valvoline 0-40w Synthetic and have some of the same issues. Understand, that is the oil I use in the motor and not the transmission. Manual Transmission
fluid in a Honda is not the same as the motor oil you use. This can be a common mistake as some older American cars DO use motor oil in the gear boxes.
Outside of the oil you used, there are other reasons you can feel a shudder in first gear. Here is a rundown list in no particular order:
1. Clutch is engaging and the flywheel or clutch pads have worn or have hard spots. Replace clutch and flywheel.
2. Master cylinder is low or has bubbles in the clutch fluid. Try a complete bleed and replace with synthetic brake fluid.
3. Master or slave cylinder is having a problem (air leak or problems compressing fluid). Replace whichever is leaking or both to be safe.
4. Front motor mount rubber is worn. Inspect and/or replace
5. Transmission mount is worn. Inspect and/or replace
6. Air filter is very overused and motor can't breath at low RPM. Replace air filter.
7. Axels (half shafts) are worn. Stop the car. Turn the wheel all the way to one side or another and accellerate. Do you hear a clunk? If so, you will need to replace the half shaft on the side that is clunking. It is best to do this in pairs and you won't need to replace the mid-shaft unless you are pushing up to 800hp. Half shafts usually come with the CV boot pre-installed and I don't recommend you replacing this on your own. Its a pain. If there is no clunk, check for grease in the axel area. This can be a sign of the axel grinding and putting resistance on the motor and tranny.
No, she is not a hot-rodder, she probably is just not paying attention.
Any device or other ideas would be appreciated.
OK, so I'll spend some time tinkering in my garage to come up with one. If it works I'll let you know, right after I patent it.
No, she is not a hot-rodder, she probably is just not paying attention.
Any device or other ideas would be appreciated.
Make her drive manual. If she is not paying atention what gear she puts her automatic in, then she is probably not paying attention to her driving either. Driving stick will force to pay attention to the vehicle and the road.
Problem solved.
Jim
I'm thinking of buying an automatic transmission 2001 Honda Civic with about 79k. The guy who's selling it told me that he has only changed some soft parts of the transmission when fixing the car but he didn't rebuild the transmission. Does anybody know if this is a serious issue or it's something that can be replaced and the transmission will work with no problems.
The other thing he changed is the speed sensor which I don't think it's a big deal. The car is priced about $5k. What do you think about the price considering the age etc of the car. Carfax is perfect with no issues.
It's gonna be my first car and I'm really nervous.
Thanks
Thank You
I took it to the dealer (mine is Honda certified and also I got the extended warranty) , we went for a test drive and I replicated the vibration. The technician said it’s because the torque converter is locking up the gears for fuel efficiency and this is normal for all Hondas with 4cyl. He also mentioned since I am driving slow and steady you will feel this. Finally he gave me the report as working as designed.
I am wondering is this normal for Honda? Or its due to winter temperature drop.
Thanks in Advance
-tony
Gail