As the topic states, my transmission for the second time now has boiled over. I cant think of a better word to describe what is happening other than boiling over so I'll leave it at that. Anyways, this is the second time it has happened to me within a few months and it only happens at speeds in excess of 65 mph. Both times it happened I was driving on the highway for 25 minutes or more. The first time I managed to catch it right as it happened and could quickly pull over to allow my tranmission to cool down. The second time, however, I did not notice it until the day after (mainly because I was driving at night in severe fog) and noticed many puddles where my car had been parked the next day. After the first time I took my car in for a service and had all my fluids replaced. Since this past incident, I have not driven the car since because I'm afraid there might be an insufficient amount of transmission fluid. However, I have not had the time to check the transmission to see how it feels or even fire the car up for that matter. Luckily I have another car to drive in the mean time, my dads, but it will only be for another day or two so I will be needing to drive the civic again. Now on a side note, I have driven with this exact same set-up all last summer in temperatures of 90+ for atleast 5 days a week on a highway for around 20-30 minutes at a time and never once was there a boil over.

Let me jump back to when I took it to the dealership because the guy who serviced my car is a good friend of mine and I know he did everything right, as far as putting in the right fluid and at the right amount. However, he did state that he noticed the transmission was overfilled so that would give reason behind the first boil over. After this second incident I called him back to see if he could possibly give me a reason why it would happen again and he says he has no clue. So as he is clueless to why this is happening to my car, I am clueless too. My only guess would be that there might have been incorrect fluids used or an overfill, but as stated before, this is a trusted family mechanic who wouldnt do such a thing.

A few other side notes are: the engine is from a 96 integra ls, and the transmission from a 93 integra ls, also prior to the first boil over I had been using GM syncromesh to get rid of a slight 4th gear grind.

I know this board has a lot of knowledgable people and I am asking for your assistance please, any suggestion is better than no suggestion. Also, as the topic states, I am not new to this forum and I tried searching but only to find that the search engine was out of service at the time. Please help me if you can, Thanks in advance.

-Jordan

 

Where is the fluid boiling out from?

 

is it an auto or 5 speed?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beeateteen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> slight 4th gear grind. </TD></TR></TABLE>
im guessing 5 speed. this is crazy ive never heard of anything like this and how did you over fill it?
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mahatma &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where is the fluid boiling out from?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

same here i have never heard of a manul transmission boiling over i have seen auto trans overheat but thats why they have trans coolers on them i would suggest just going to the dealer and getting two quarts of honda MTF and fill it i'm pretty sure it's extremly hard to over fill a honda manual trans if your fillin it from the right bolt if you put too much in it will run right out to the proper level. you should be able to stick your finger in the bolt hole and feel fluid.

 

Only reason for it to boil over would be that it is overfilled. Drain it and refill it with the proper amount of oil through the filler hole and not the vss so you know how much is in there. If you fill through the vss you are likely to overfill it if you don't know how much to put in there.

 

Yes it is a 5 speed, and its been boiling over from the vent plug on the top side of the transmission. I'm going to drain and re-fill tommorow, but would you suggest using heavier weight fluid? or just sticking with HMT and seeing how things go. I mean the only other possibility is that the mechanic who worked on my car overfilled the tranmission like I did. Also, after the first boil over, I did not have any tools on me so i got 10w-30 and a funnel and put a little bit of fluid in through the vent plug just to make sure it would be able to make it home. I did not have the right tools at the time to do a complete drain/re-fill especially when I was stuck on the side of a highway. Do you think filling it through the vent plug would somehow affect it in a way that it cant hold pressure in speeds over 65mph?

This is just mind boggling...

 

I am not sure how I over filled it the first time. I thought I was filling it in the right plug, however, from reading a response to my post, I might have filled it in the vss instead. However, the second time around I had a mechanic do it for me to make sure nothing would go wrong, so this is why its really bothering me.

 

Heres what i do :

1. Drain it from the correct spot (the drain plug, make sure u know where this is).
2. Remove VSS
3. Fill trans with about 2.3-2.4 qts of HMT or synchromesh (your choice)
4. Drive car.

Works everytime with no "boiling over."

 

You can fill it through the vss but I like filling it through the filler hole so I know when it is full. But like fourthgenhatch said as long as you the amount to put in it doesn't matter where you fill it. Honda MTF will work just fine.

 

Thanks for all the quick replies, this is why Honda-Tech is so great.
I just have one more question, would there be by any chance damage or a defect in my vent plug (the little black rubber thing) which would cause it to not hold pressure and therefore cause the fluid to come out through it after extended use? Has such a thing ever been heard of? I'm probably more than likely going to replace it anyways because it cant be too expensive plus I have to go to Honda anyways to get more HMT, but if I can save myself more money for gas than I'd rather do that

 

The fluid just sloshes around in the case and is not under pressure. Isn't the vent just a black plastic cap?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The fluid just sloshes around in the case and is not under pressure. Isn't the vent just a black plastic cap? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. Its just a cap, designed to vent, but not let any dirt in. Ive seen trannys with them left off all the time (probably becuase they have been knocked off or something during install).