Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

Ok, so some of you may know that I recently got a tranny to put in my car. Well all is done now and the tranny is in and funtioning. I haven't had time to play with that throttle lever, but the car does shift funny.

Off the top of my head.......

1st to 2nd is usually pretty smooth
2nd the 3rd is a little hard but not bad
3rd to 4th is a pretty hard kick with occasional minor rpm increase before shift.

Is this due to not adjusting that throttle lever? Or does it sound like something else?

No CEL for the engine or tranny. All lights normal on the cluster. No weird sounds.

Also I think I need another quart or two of fluid. The guy at honda said 3 qts was fine, but I'm thinking it needs another (I'll check the dipstick again today).





OH...

Just wanted to thank Mad Mike as well as everyone else for their help thus far. I know Mad Mike will see this and probably post to it lol. Thanks again!

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

Did you install the tranny or a shop? A good shop would have adjusted the throttle cable and not let the car leave w/ out the proper fluid level. You need to check the level when it is hot and parked on level ground w/ the car running. I just replaced the throttle cable on my 97 Cl as it was stretched and could not adjust enough and adjusted my 92 wagons. The symptom i had was flares on 1-2 up shift on both cars. This is the common symptom w/ the throttle cable out of adjustment. Sounds like you have something else wrong.It takes 2.75quts of ATF to do a drain and fill on all 3 of my Honda's,so the Honda guy was right.

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

Ah I guess flare is a good word to describe it. Yea just when it shifts the rpm jumps like 200 (hundred) so it kicks a little when it shifts. As for the fluid, I put in 3 qts and it's still not registering on the dipstick very much.

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

IIRC you need two 12mm open end wrenches to adjust the cable.
You want it so that as soon as the throttle starts to move, the cable starts to move as well.
Depending on how off the cable is. If there isn't an abundance of slop, or too tight of a cable the next thing to look at is the appropriate amount of fluid.
IIRC I think I had picked up 8-9 quarts of Honda ATF from Honda of Hayward after talking to Tim. These imported transmissions are pretty empty when they ship them. I think I used about 5 quarts. I dumped 3-4 in while the engine idled, the dipstick read fine, then I shifted through all the gears without driving, and added another 2 quarts before the level in the transmission stabilized.
No problem, just offering up my experience.
You want to see fluid on the hash marked area of the dipstick. Not enough fluid will cause gear slippage, or to be correct, not enough fluid will not provide correct pressure to keep the clutch packs engaged. And the transmission will slip.

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

I am dealing with a similar problem, how do you know what is the perfect adjustment for the trans linkage cable, does the lever at the bottom of the cable have to be completely down or can it be up a little? What is too tight?

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

Bump same question as above

Re: Automatic transmission adjustment?
 

No slack and no pretension.

Verify the throttle body is fully closed.
Verify the throttle body to pedal cable is properly adjusted.
*I personally don't care for the divorced bellcrank on AT TBs and I take the added takeup out of the spring loaded bell crank so when the cable moves it is opening the throttle blade actual.*
Lever needs to be in the down position, if it feels sticky manually exercise the lever up/down by hand a few times. I had one where the PO over adjusted and the lever would not return to proper rest, after a few up/downs the lever would return naturally to full down which is horizontal.
Verify the TV cable is not sticking.
Using two 12mm wrenches loosen the adjuster nuts, snug down by hand til the slack is removed.
Place your hand on the throttle and as soon as the blade begins to move the lever should begin to lift.
That is correct adjustment.
Throttle valve lever should return to its at rest position after opening and closing the throttle.
There is allowance for the throttle to be slightly tigher(pre-tension) on the TV cable by 2mm, this may give slightly firmer shifts as it can raise line pressure a bit.