iRacer

I have a 2002 Accord LXi 2.3 auto. Mileage 144k. I am in New Zealand.

The clutch packs were slipping on the 1-2, 2-3 shifts so I had the transmission rebuilt/overhauled. So going forward is fine.

I had an issue with reverse before the overhaul, which I thought would have fixed the problem but it hasn't. The transmission was fully checked and cleaned - the gear sets and other internals checked out fine, no scorching on the gears or visable wear.

When I reverse on the flat it goes backwards fine. The problem is when I go to reverse uphills/or even slight gradients.
When the engine/trans is cold it reverses uphills as expected BUT when the engine/trans is hot it feels like the clutches are slipping and the car doesn't move anywhere - it will rev out to about 2500.

The Transmission guys have checked it out and have said the trans is fine but there could be an issue with the engine. It looks like there is a rev limit of 2500, to stop over speeding in reverse but when there is load on the engine (reversing uphill) it doesn't seem to build up enough speed in reverse to move the car up a hill.

Can anyone help?
Has anyone with a 1998-2002 model Accord LXi auto experienced the problem?

I have heard that the V6 model Accords had a serious transmission issue but does this apply to the 2.3's?

YeuEmMaiMai

they did not rebuild it right....

iRacer

Update

I have spoken to the Transmission Specialists and they have found the following. The transmission checks out fine. The torque converter was checked and overhauled at the same time as the transmission. The trans fluid is still like new (it was changed less than a week ago with the transmission overhaul) and doesn’t have any burnt smell to it. I believe a burnt smell would indicate slipping.

Going forward has no issues, reversing along the flat is okay both hot and cold. Reversing when cold seems ok. The problem is reversing back up hills when the trans is hot.

The transmission is not actually ‘slipping’ in reverse. What is happening is the car seems to be losing power when the car is in reverse going back up a hill (steep or slight). The revs hold constant at 2000-2500rpm but the car starts to lose power and then slow down, eventually sitting there at the same revs but not moving. So if it was slipping, the revs would shoot up with no drive.

When we stop the car a strong pungent smell comes through the car. It is not an engine or burnt clutch type smell. The Transmission Specialists thinks it is a blocked catalytic converter/exhaust smell. When the car is facing down hill, maybe there is something in the cat/exhaust that may move and block the exhaust – causing the engine to lose power, which in turn fails to move the car back up hills. They are going to try removing the cat and checking the exhaust to see if this is the cause.

What do you guys think? Is this a possible cause to why the car won’t reverse up hills?

iRacer

Taking the cat out and dropping the exhaust didn’t fix the problem.

The problem only makes it self known when the car is hot and reversing up hills (front of the car is pointing downhill).

The stall in the torque converter is set at 2500. It won’t rev past this point in reverse.

Any ideas???

iRacer

I had another mechanic check out the Accord.

He tested a few more things to see what else may be causing the reversing up hills issue - fuelling, brakes etc. Nothing to suggest and engine problem.

He found that the gearbox was binding - the trans would select both reverse and a forward gear when the car /trans is hot while reversing up hills. This effectively causes the car to stop as you can't go fowards and backwards at the same time. He disconnected the solenoids on the trans and the car flew up the hill in reverse. So this pointed to a solenoid problem. Swapped out the solenoids and tested the car fine. When reversing the car would basically rev out over the 2500rpm that it was limited to before hand, both on the flat and up hills.... Sorted...

Not quite, when I collected the car - drove home about 30mins or so in rush hour stop/start traffic. Tried reversing up a hill - went for about 10m or so and then started binding again!!! When the trans is binding the engine is still revving. I left it for an hour and tried again. It would reverse up hills a couple of times and then it would start binding again. On the flat it worked perfectly.

Any ideas?

F R Cook

I have the same problem, although I thought it was the brakes being applied in reverse, rather than the forward clutch bucking the reverse clutch. The condition of being hot seems to support the idea that there is a leak of transmission fluid between the two clutches when in reverse.

Could old, low viscosity transmission fluid be at the root of the problem?