nhldogg

I have a 1998 accord v6 with about 155,000 miles on it and im planning on taking it on a long trip in about two weeks. I was wondering what i need to or should do as preventative maintnance or to help on the trip so that i dont hurt anything on the car and do not become stranded. The transmission is really what i am worried about as it has always been a problem on the car. Thanks for any helps or tips!

davey5300

Are you having slipping problems? automatic Transmission Failure is VERY VERY common and is a huge problem with the 98-02 V6's. is it the original tranny?

nhldogg

Yes it is the original tranny and its not slipping but i cant tell a difference all i know is that sometimes it cluncks in and out of gear and over revs sometimes when accelerating. What im mainly wondering is will it hold up and if it goes will i still be able to drive?

somedudecro

I have the same issue... also 98 accord v6 coupe

I had the check engine light, took it into pepboys and they said the code was for the EGR valve, so I had them replace it but the engine light came back on later that day....

I haven't had transmission problems until now though, and just like you will occasionally clunk from first to second gear and revs a little unnecessarily when changing gears.

Sure do hope I don't need a new transmission.. ughh...

PnX-R

Sounds like the tranny is going out. I hate getting stranded in a customer's car. I say find a different car to take the trip with. With those transmissions, the long drive will probably make it worse because of all the heat that'll build up along the trip.

PnX-R

I'd go back to Pep Boys and make sure you print this out and take it with you.

http://home.comcast.net/~johnpitman/a05-026.pdf

They should've known better to clean the EGR ports along with replacing an EGR Valve. I would ask them to do it for free since the EGR Valve itself didn't fix it. It should've been common sense in my opinion. Honda's aren't the only cars that have clogged EGR ports.

As for the tranny, sounds to me like you'll need a new one soon.

somedudecro

Thanks alot PNX for taking the time to give some advice... I really appreciate it.

I guess that pdf for odyssey's also applies to my 98 accord... I'm gonna do as you advised and have them clean the ports.

Yeah, new transmission is probably in my future... I got to thinking about it and just went out to test it and it makes a slight clunk when shifting into 2 and R just in the driveway... wish I would've got manual but I'm pretty sure it wasn't available or otherwise I probably would have.

nhldogg

Well the car drive extreamly well on the highway with barely any hesitation in high gears. I know the transmission will go soon but i need to take this car on the trip. Should i get a transmission cooler or something or should i just go as is and hope for the best?

somedudecro

Well nhldogg, I took my car in today to a local shop (the most reputable one I could find scouring the internets and even signing up for angie's list) and he said my kick was very minor and that they have had considerable success with similar Honda/Accuras flushing and replacing the fluid so that's what I am going to try first, see how it goes.

Was 225$ estimate with their synthetic fluid but I think I would prefer the original honda so he quoted me 300 for that. It's not guaranteed to work, and frankly I'm sceptical that it will, but it's better than a new transmission. My car has 185k on it and is 12 years old, seems to me if I had one of the bad trannsmissions like so many others it would have failed long ago... maybe a new tran can be averted, who knows, but I'm scheduled for it wednesday so I'll let you know how it goes. The fluid was pretty dark, though still red, and it's past due to be changed anyway ( I was in Europe for five years and left my car to my Mom who never had it serviced for anything outside of oilchanges)

Anyone know if the original Honda fluid is really necessary or should I go the cheaper route?

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

i would use the honda fluid for the tans. my autozone sales girl is also a graduate of ase transmission classes. she says the stuff parts stores sell for hondas is not the same and will not work as well as the honda stuff. her being a specialist and me being a honda tech at one time agree. get the fluid at the dealer. you may also want to see if there were any transmission recall services or issues. i remember we were changing transmissions out pretty regularly on the v-6 cars under warranty or recalls. this was arount 2001 or so and these are the years that we were having in the shop regularly

somedudecro

Thanks, Ricks.... I will definitely go with the honda fluid, had surmised as much more or less from searching this forum and reading other threads....

I had put my vehicle vin in the honda owner site and the only recalls issued for me had to do with the ignition switch and was fixed I guess by my old man (who I bought the car from).

I'm really hoping it's just a fluid issue, as when I was out of country for the past five years the car never got serviced outside of oilchanges....

nhldogg

Okay so flushing the fluid may help? I have been changing my transmission fluid every 6k with honda atf and have not noticed a difference. I was thinking of changing the fluid to castrol atf high milage. It says that it can be used in place of the honda atf. I have heard that it is not good to use other fluid types in a honda but has anyone ever used this before and do you think i should try it out?

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

no i have not done this myself. i am a castrol fan and believer but when i asked a trasmission specialist--even though shes a chick--she said it wouldnt be a good idea. when shes ase certified i trust her.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

it has been a while since i personally serviced one of these cars but do you have a trans filter in that car? if so i would change that too

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

there is a filter. i just looked. 1.0 hours to replace the filter labor time

nhldogg

the filter in these transmissions is internal? im pretty sure there is no way to change it without removing the transmission. if anyone has the steps or a diagram on how to change out the filter without removing the transmission it would be greatly apreciated.

lordnight

there is no need to do any extra work to replace filter. all u need is drain and refill trans fluid. first buy atf z-1 from honda dealership about 6 qt w/ atf conditioner. second drain trans fluid out n refill w/ 3qt atf z1 and start it let it run about 10-15 min. and check trans fluid by using dipstick and repeat drain n refill again but this time add atf conditioner. then u should be good.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

lord night was correct. there is no filter on this trans. but for some reason it lists a labor time of 1.0 hour in my labor time to replace one of those filters. pobably to change the fluid is one hour but any how, just do like lordnight said

nhldogg

Thanks very helpful!

Valpo500

I also have an 98 accord V6
My trans went down a few days ago... my car is not running and I don't know what to do.

The local shop is charging $1200 for a complete rebuild, using "trans-something" parts that are suposed to be OEM. I need a desicion on what to do because he says this transmission are really good but his theory is that the car had a bad previous owner . Should I change to manual? I've heard about this CL-s 6sp swap but it seems to be a little difficult and not a direct replacement...

Here's a guy asking for help, I don't know what to do...

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

in the custom car world there is no limit to what we can do. only our wallets get a little light to stop us. i have not heard of the swap you mentioned for a manual trans but thats not to say it cant be done. 1200 for your trans rebuild sounds more than fair. the trans is a good trans. however the guy is probably correct that the car had a neglectful owner. that trans is suposed to be ran on honda atf and only honda atf you get from the dealer. to my knowledge, nobody but the dealer sells it based on its chemical composition we read in the bottle fluid specs. and that info is from an ase certified transmission specialist workin at autozone. she sent me to the dealer for it because we looked into other trans fluid options on this. personally i wanna see a honda F-1 engine in an accord with some inda manual trans and a mid engine set-up. but my wallets a little light. i guess you'll have to figure out if yo wanna do that swap. if you do, keep us posted so we can check it out

nhldogg

now i keep seeing that there is a "fix" installed in these rebuilt transmissions. what is included in the "fix" and does only the dealership include it? i have heard that on these transmissions a simple rebuild is not enough and that it will probably go out again in the near future.

nhldogg

bump..

somedudecro

Had the flush fluid replace done today and drove it around for 20 miles and so far it shifts much better, still the occasional slight thump here and there between 1st and 2nd or to 3rd gear... still all sorts of maintenance I need to have done including spark plugs, new ignition switch and such since my mom did nothing for the car but drive it while I was in Europe.

nhldogg

Well thats good to know thanks for the update.