barijan

Hi folks,
I'm writing from Brazil, so please forgive my bad english.
I have a 1998 Honda Accord EX (2.3 I4 engine, BAXA automatic transmission).

Since a couple of months I'm experiencing the following problem:
When rolling to a stop, (i.e. in a red light), just a second after a complete stops, the car jerks, just once, in almost every stop. It's like a small jump forward, sometimes subtle, but most of times hard and strong enough to be quite annoying to the passengers.

If I hit the gas pedal just before it stops (i.e. light turns green before I had a complete stop), it jerks even harder that sometimes make tires scream, specially when going uphill. And even at relativelly light throttle.
This could happens a lot in stop-and-go traffic.

Doesn't matter if the weather is cold or hot, or if the car is warmed up or not.

No problems with upshift, always very smooth, no slips.
The engine mounts seem to be ok. No cracks, no wear and no excesive engine movement when testing.
ATF level and condition are pretty good. I use to do the fill-drain procedure every 30k with Honda ATF, and it looks always nice and red, no burnt smell.
No error codes in the scan tool as well.

It seems to me that it's taking more time than usual to downhsift to the 1st (does it just 1 second after a complete stop) and when it shifts, does it harder than it used to be. That's the jerk when stopping. And if I hit the gas when it still in 2nd, so it shifts hard to 1st. And as the engine is putting power on the transmission, the jerk is quite more pronounced.

Some folks told me that it's the normal on Honda transmissions, that they are stiffer, and I have to learn how to deal with it, stop slower, less pushing on the gas... But it wasn't like that before!

I notice that at the same time this problem started to show, it started also to have larger delay to engage when shifting from N or P to D4 or D3. Usually it takes less than 1 second, but now it takes a bit more than 1 second, sometimes 2 seconds, and then thumps harder than usual when engages.

The shifting from N or P to R seems pretty normal, whith a soft but quick engagement. As it's supposed to be, IMO.

Last week I removed, cleaned and tested the lockup solenoids assembly and the small filters attached to it. Almost no debris.
But this procedure made no difference at all.

Since it's quite more difficult to have access to the rest of solenoids and sensors (and parts are very expensive here in Brazil for doing a "trial and error" approach) I would like to know which one I should try first. Shift solenoids? Or the clutch pressure control solenoid (plus pipes and filters)?
Could it be some pressure sensor defective or going to die?

I'm planning to remove, test and clean the Clutch Pressure Control Solenoid. I've already ordered a new CPC gasget and o-rings for the pipes and also o-rings for the Shift Solenoids, just waiting for delivery. Probably it will take a week to come from U.S.
The local dealer has these parts, but at very abusive prices.

Any advice will be welcome, even to reduce a bit the symptoms and gain some more time to the transmission, because here in Brazil this car is a "not-so-common" import, so it would be very expensive to replace or rebuild this tranny.

BTW... Congratulations for this great forum.