twilliams1755

Just got a 96 Accord I4 Auto trans. It broke down on the last owner and he gave it to me free since the lot he parked it in was about to start charging him and I had a trailer.

I don't have much experience working on Hondas or any FWD cars (all ours are RWD).

Anyways, I drove it off the trailer and got it a few hundred feet down the road. Put it in park, then it wouldn't go back into drive or reverse. Pushed it back to the yard.

Next day, pushed it a little bit and reverse engaged long enough for me to get it onto concrete and onto jack stands.

On the jack stands, it will go into 1st and reverse. Sometimes it's a little sluggish engaging the gears. Still won't upshift, and when I shift to neutral, the neutral indicator comes on, but the transmission goes into drive.

CV axles are okay, diff seems okay (wheels spin opposite when you go out and turn them by hand), fluid looks pretty new. Not getting any check engine light, and the D4 light isn't flashing. So... any ideas?

MAD_MIKE

If the car has ~200Kmiles the fluid has probably never been changed and the clutch material is probably blocking the sump pickup. Typical symptoms are the car will drive for a bit but then act as though it is in neutral, usually accompanied by a whining/whirring sound coming from the torque converter area. That's the sound of the pump cavitating due to no fluid flow.

Drain and refill the trans to get the junk out.
If the trans only worked with one side jacked up, albeit you had the left side raised and all the slurry slopped down and away from the pickup.
If you can keep the car jacked up on one side to aid in getting the junk out through the drain hole.