Hi all,

I just bought a very nice one owner 98 EX V6 coupe with 130,000 miles on it.

I've noticed that the tranny has a little jerk between 1st and 2nd, and have read about the horror stories of people with 6th gen V6's and auto trannies blowing up. Of course the dealer doesn't have any maintenance history on it, so I can only hope that the previous owner changed the fluid like he was supposed to.

But being the maintenance minded person I am, I'm thinking about having the dealer flush it anyways to be on the safe side. But I've also heard about higher mileage trannies that have never been flushed having problems when flushed late in their life.

So now I don't know If I should pay $160 for a full flush, or $70 for a drain (which the service guy told me only replaces a few quarts).

 

you better make sure that the shop actually flushes the whole transmission. Most shops, even dealerships, just do drain and fills even though they charge you for a flush. Also, since you don't know if the previous owner flushed the car or not, it is not recommended for you to power flush it. It will bring up old sediments and clog something. Just do a couple of drain and fills yourself for 70 dollars. USE OEM HONDA FLUID!

 

power fluching may cause seals to leak b/c the fluid build blcoked the seals from leaking if they have a problem. and if yo upower flush it may cause it to start to leak

 

Changing the fluid 3 times, with a short drive between changes, is what Honda considers a flush. $160 is an awful lot for that. The fluid for 3 changes would cost less than $50. Honda does not recommend power flushing. Although some people have had power flushes done, with no ill effects. I would think about getting an expert to check the trans. It may about to crap out on you. I hope you're prepared for that. Good luck

 

I bought my accord v-6 ex in December and it was doing the same thing as yours, but now its totally screwed, I'm getting a reman tranny from autozone for $1,500. and putting it in myself.

 

trans is toast. and the dealer should have known that when they test drove the car....the average life on those transmissions is about 90k.

I would be leery of buying a reman trans from autozone.....there is an update that the 02 transmissions have to help keep the 2nd gear clutch packs from toasting

 

the update is a kit, i forgot what it was called though, you can buy the kit from honda and install it yourself.

 

I talked the dealer down to $130. Not sure how they flush it, but I talked to the service guy and he said that he's never seen a honda have problems after the flush and fill.

Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

2nd gear jet kit

 

I've heard of it, but what exactly is the 2nd gear jet kit and how is it installed? Something I should have the dealer do or can I do it myself?

 

for the 6th gen cars you have to install the kit by removing and disassembly of the transmission. This is an internal fix unlike the 7th gen cars were the fix can be applid externally.......(installation of a hose and some other parts)

 

Ahh. So not a do-it-yourself project (unless you're a mechanic). Doubt it's cheap to have the dealer do it too.

Is the cost of having this installed much less than getting a rebuilt tranny? I thought a lot of the cost of working on the trans is the process of removing it and opening it up.

 

i went through 3 trannies in under 95K (second one failed due to a bad part that was installed

 

my wife's tranny was slipping a little bit from 2nd to 3rd
I brought the car to honda, they said get a rebuilt tranny for xxx $
screw that ...
I brought it to my genius mechanic
he ran a hydrolic lift cleaner bottle mixed with the tranny oil
ran it for a good 500 kms
flushed it
car shifts like brand new
sometimes it's just solenoids that get clogged, and a tranny flush will not do anything, other times it's a physical problem and u're up the creek

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95exrv6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my wife's tranny was slipping a little bit from 2nd to 3rd
I brought the car to honda, they said get a rebuilt tranny for xxx $
screw that ...
I brought it to my genius mechanic
he ran a hydrolic lift cleaner bottle mixed with the tranny oil
ran it for a good 500 kms
flushed it
car shifts like brand new
sometimes it's just solenoids that get clogged, and a tranny flush will not do anything, other times it's a physical problem and u're up the creek </TD></TR></TABLE>


my trans failed due to main filter in unit getting glogged caused by a mainshaft bushing failure. this in turn resulted in my second gear clutch pack getting toasted = transmission death..........

I believe it won't be too long before you are going to need a new trans. IF you have proerly changed the fluid as is recommened by most trans shops (about every 25K) then flushing the trans should not have to happen....until the car is way up there in milage? What is the milage on your car?

 

don't let this label here fool you

&lt;----

tranny has 50,000 kms on it
it sat for 1.5 years in a warehouse
remember I don't live in california when it's 80+ degrees everyday
we get -40- -50 below here and warehouses don't have the heat on full blast - which makes a difference in the engine / tranny components life

deposits form in solenoids if dirty oil is still in trannys after engine / tranny swaps

most salvage / jdm shops don't care about the parts enough to flush them, place additives in the tranny / engine for storage

they'll leave the crappy customers oil in it and leave it on the shelf until someone wants it, after the oils cool off, not long after the deposits start to cool and cake on components as well


anyways I'm looking into having an SIR transplant done on her car soon

 

My Suggestion is to not waste your money on changing the fluid. I changed my mom's tranny fluid every third oil change, knowing the issues with the 98 v-6's.

Long story short, by 124,000 miles it finally stopped shifting altogether and needed to be replaced. She doesn't drive it hard, she's 50 years old and like I said the trans maintenance was ambitious. Seems there is nothing you can do to prevent these transmissions from going.

This is just my experience with just one 98 v-6 but to back it up I've read many other horror stories about this specific year and engine/trans. At lest the next few years Honda extended the warranty on the trans but specifically the 98 they did not and any help you get from the dealer is purely "good will"

 

Got my car back today. Got to say she shifts smoother then ever! 130K on the tranny and it shifts like new.

The Honda service manager explained their process of "flushing" the trans: They hook a machine up to the trans cooler and push 9 quarts of ATF into the trans. The first 3 qts are used to push out the old fluid and clean the trans. The last 6 are left in the tranny. New fluid, without any high pressure change.

Just to clarify: my trans wasn't having any kind of really bad shifting problem. It was just a little jerky, and a little slow to change gears. After the flush it shifts like new and is faster changing gears. Worth every penny of the $130 the dealer charged.

 

it will not be long before the jerking is back.................i suggest that you visit all of the other V6 accord websites and you wil see what we are all talking about.......

 

Well, not much I can do about it, huh? If it's going to break, it's going to break. Might as well try and keep her going as long as possible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kegard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, not much I can do about it, huh? If it's going to break, it's going to break. Might as well try and keep her going as long as possible. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I know, it sucks but unfortunately when you get the 1-2 jerk, it is already too late for the trans.....these things are POS and unfortunately there really isn't too muchh you can do about it.