Randy Reed

I am planning to tackle a major issue on my mom's Accord. A short time back, the transmission started making some noise and then locked up. It sat for a period of time and she was ready to scrap the car. There is however too much good to dump it for scrap prices. Car has 164K miles on it.

If you start the car, all sounds fine. Motor and trans sound good. When you shift from park, it makes some serious noise. There is no sign of moving. If you try to shift back to park, it sounds like afterwards the park pawl trying to grab but it just never grabs. Shut engine off, shift to park, start engine, all smooth and quiet again.

I'm guessing a gear has let loose. I don't think it would be a converter. Right?

I plan to pull the transmission tomorrow and hit a salvage yard for replacement... Assuming it isn't worth fixing. How would I know?

If I replace with a used trans, and yes I know that is risky, does it have to be an Accord transmission or are there tranmissions in other models that are interchangeable? Looking for suggestions.

For the record, I have replace plenty of front wheel drive transmissions and more. I have never rebuilt a transmission before but I'm not against trying.

Any advice? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Randy