Jack Murphy

OK so I just spend a good amount of time and money rebuilding a d16y8 in my 2000 civic EX that's an auto transmission.

I changed the radiator so i figured I should top it up with the fluid I lost from doing that. I go to look in the trans fill hole and see some dirt particles around the neck of the fill hole. SO like an idiot I wadded up some paper towel and shoved it in there to clean it...
Long story short a piece of the paper ripped off and went into the transmission. it was the relativley small tip on the end of it, not more than an inch all around if it was gently wadded up. I read up on it a bit and decided the best thing would be to see if I can still drive it, and to my surprise it still shifts through all the gears no problem.

Does this mean I'm going to run into problems down the road? Can I expect to need a new transmission soon? (this one already has 240k on it) or will it just settle somewhere at the bottom and not disturb anything?

I've also considered trying to do a drain and fill, but I've heard that can do more harm than good with old transmissions? is it worth the risk if I could maybe get this thing out?

Thank you guys for any input.

Gattlin

If it was just a small piece, like the size of a quarter, i wouldn't worry about it too much. Im sure the transmission will tear it into nothing (think wet paper towel). But if it was a big piece (or a whole paper towel haha) that might be cause for concern. Even with the small piece, it could block holes that the trans fluid needs to run through, even tho its probably not likely.

If you want to be safe, you could do a trans fluid change or flush (they are different), and that would be better for the trans than having a paper towel flowing through it. in your case it would be doing more good than harm haha.