larudy

Let me start off. I have a 2000 honda civic lx automatic transmission.93000 miles Nothing special haven't done anything to it, I just bought it a week ago for 1k$. (started off on body work because I was lazy and had materials at hand)

On the way home, CEL came on- whatever.

Took it code the code read one for the cat converter(whatever), other P0501---vehicle speed sensor??


Anyways drove it for a week, after work stopped at a light it was like I had put the car in neutral. Put in reverse- NADA put in drive- NADA RPMS go up like im in neutral and revving but my POS doesnt move.]



Takes POS to local mechanic(whatever) he looks at it for like 10 minutes and says the transmission is bad and its going to cost me over 1k and is not worth it to fix- might as well junk my POS]



WHATEVER


So My question is, would it be (in any way) possible that a bad VSS could be my issue, not that my "transmission pooped out on me"



My fluid looked fine before I took it in, wasnt low or anything, it was shifting normally before it shat on me at a light. Just give me honest opinions- humor me because i am taking it to get a second opinion Monday.

MisereNoire

bad vss killing trans....doubt it. more like....
1.check your shift cable for proper adjustment (and if its even hooked up correctly)
2.bad clutches in the trans, bad: pump, seals, solenoids, pistons and whatever else functions to deliver trans fluid.
3.bad torque converter
4. reamed splines on torque converter (this is unlikely, but this HAS happened on my 85 toyota 22r-te pickup before)

so, i would check item #1, if that looks fine...pick up a replacement trans for a couple hundred and swap them out, i guarantee you'll spend much less than 1k on it, IF you do your homework, shop around, swap them yourself.

*all information above is given freely, and the provider can in no way be held responsible for any mechanical/bodily/monetary harm resulting from any actions taken based on the given information. If you spend too much money, drop your replacement transmission, have your transmission drop on you, have your car randomly slide off your jackstands and reverse bench-press you, your transmission randomly explodes, your car randomly explodes, your girlfriend/wife/mistress/child/grandfather/grandmother/pet dog/pet bird/total stranger explodes, your car transforms into giant robot and asks why you've been molesting it, or if you wake up only to realize your entire life as you know it has been nothing but a dream and you're actually named Jon Hubert Smolenski and you sell rubber ducks to small children....the aforementioned party will deny any involvement/responsibility whatsoever and will ridicule you mercilessly. Have a nice day!

lostforawhile

I think that year is at the end of run of those god awful POS transmissions, you aren't the first, usually the screens on the valves get clogged, line pressure drops, the bands start slipping and filling the transmission with crap, and it goes downhill from there. They made some of the biggest piece of **** transmission they ever have made those years, I had a 98, and I ended up selling the POS or I would have converted to manual, too many projects, your best bet is to find a doner car, get everything needed to go to a manual, and convert.

lostforawhile

the problem is most of these transmissions are dead, or soon to die, so picking up a used one isnt even worth the money, they are complete crap

MisereNoire

How lovely...ive never had to deal with any auto trans past a 5th gen civic. sounds like its time to pick up a full engine/trans swap from something a little more reliable.

lostforawhile

they really should have been covered by that transmission recall Honda did, but they managed to get out of fixing them, just for ***** and giggles, I inquired at my local good transmission place, been there 50 years, and he wont even fix them, he said they always come back no matter what they do, his advice? convert to a manual, These are pretty good cars, so if the OP likes the car, thats his best bet, the yard here has an entire line of this generation Civic, all with good engines, nice interiors etc, but they have bad transmission written on every single one

MisereNoire

Well, thanks for that info. Now at least I know that sometime in the future I'll be working on my mom's 99 ex. Hope she doesn't mind standard.

lostforawhile

here's an article about it, they are wrong on a couple of things though, it's not usually the torque converter that goes, but issues with fluid pressure loss due to valve problems, and the problem started before 99, a lot of 98's are garbage too. They made a **** load of bad transmissions for a long time, there are lawsuits pending etc, it's a different car with the manual anyway, a lot more fun to drive. Honda Accord and Civic Transmission Failure | HondaProblems.com

larudy

well, its Sunday so Im going to push it into my garage during the day, then tomorrow push it to the transmission shop conveniently located across the street(har har), if it needs a trans i guess I'll convert..but that means ill have to learn how to drive stick
guess i gotta save up for a month and get through this, I'm not trying to look and buy a complete new car again i'd rather just rebuild this one sense its you know, just a rust bucket that I spent two days sanding and grinding and welding and bondo-ing and primer painting for it to **** on me the day I was going to paint........

BTW my name is Lauren

lostforawhile

it's a job to convert, but there are how to's on here, parts lists etc, you will need a doner car for all the parts, or one at the yard to pull everything, the cars were made for either transmission so all the factory parts will fit, i would start with reading one of the how to's first before you do everything so you know whats involved

lostforawhile

everything should be the same in this for your car, correct me if I'm wrong anyone, so he gets the right information

https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...4pics-1337459/

larudy

******SHE

and thanks everyone I'll make a new thread when I start so we can see how everything goes.

lostforawhile

you will get through it, these are really fun cars with a manual swap anyway, it sucks they did that stupid wind thing that has to be cut off, thanks Honda, the older cars didnt require cutting etc, even if you managed to find a good auto, they are pretty much ticking time bombs, and the older they get, the more likely to fail.

tony_2018

Site doesn't list that generation under its recall.......

Most of those Honda's are for the V6 transmissions.

lostforawhile

these are just as bad, they have the same issues, I went through the same thing, a lot of people went through the same thing, they started having issues as soon as they started going to the electronically shifted transmissions. the old hydraulically shifted ones, lots of them made it to 200,000, 300,000 some even made it to a half a million miles, the new ones are lucky to make it to 200,000 and thats a really good one

tony_2018

So you're misinforming someone on a recall on a automotive that has nothing to do with his generation/make/model, do you get where I'm going at?

If the tranny wasn't service before than thats a risk the next owner should've realized after buying a automatic civic this cheap. I care not to explain what to look for when buying a used automatic because that information varies.

Previous banned member spilled the same **** for no reason and could not back up his claims that the 96-00 had a recall on the automatic transmissions.

redyute

iTrader: (2)

Op I got everytthing you need to convert to 5 speed ecu harness the whole nine yards pm me if interested you can have it for cheap

tony_2018

My opinions come from my personal experience, close friends, and my research. I've never had a Honda automatic fail on me yet. I replaced one on a whim but it wasn't needed, only to find out that the rebuilt had a bad differential bearing.

I did at one pointed wanted to rebuild a cvt with red eagle clutch disc and a new starter clutch but the kit was no longer offered, yeah I wanted to dive into something to find out what causes it to fail.

lostforawhile

No I said these cars also should have been recalled, if you read the article you might have noticed this generation is also mentioned, they have just as many issues with the transmissions as the V6 cars, I dont know what happened to Hondas engineering department but their transmissions went to ****, these transmissions are just as bad about going bad, the torque converter might have been the issue with the v6 cars, but these the issues with line pressure dropping cause the same problems, the fluid on one gets burned by the converter, on these the bands lose clamping pressure, burn up and contaminate the entire transmission the same way

lostforawhile

I should have taken pictures of mine when I took it apart,then I could have showed you what I mean, it's a well know issue, it's known why it happens, and it happens to a bunch of the 96-2000 civics just like the later ones, it's just **** poor engineering, why someone wants to argue the issue is beyond me, they are a problem issue with these cars, just like the peeling paint, every green original paint car had the same exact clear coat peeling stripes. You can spot one a block away and know the year

MisereNoire

Welcome to the forums Lauren. I think that you'll find a standard trans makes the car more fun to drive.

slowcivic2k

Any noise while racing the engine? Broken axle or side gear is also possible, but also highly audible.

Clogged filter element on the civic units (like the M4RA, B4RA, and similar units) will cause neutralization due to poor oil flow. There is an updated filter element to correct the terribly small filter that Honda used. Make sure the rebuilder inspects and/or replaces the 4th clutch drum. This part is prone to cracking and causing clutch failure in 4th, which clogs the filter as well.

The civic units may resemble the larger Accord or 3.0CL units but are not as similar as one may think. There is one thing that could be agreed on though: The OE clutch discs shed in large chunks of fibrous spongy-looking material instead of smaller particles. This chokes the pressure control solenoid screens, TCC solenoid, and also the valve body screens to the point of no fluid flow.

At any rate during the rebuild, modifications to converter oil supply should be made to reduce heat buildup and increase fluid turn-over.

larudy

Thanks everyone i basically had someone take off the old trans and rebuild it with new parts i got a pretty good deal and a warranty so we are back on the road.

lostforawhile

add an external filter since it's freshly rebuilt, start it off right

Stumblingbear

I just bought a 2000 Honda civic ex D16y8. I replaced the rear main seal as well with the axle seals. It drove great for a day. And on the highway it just revs up like it's in neutral. Pulled off on the side and turned it off. Waited 10 minutes and turned it back on and drove a little while and it slipped again. What can I do to fix this problem? I know sooner or later I'll have to replace the whole trans. I have an automatic by the way. Plz help!