I needed a reliable car for a decent price and found this Accord after searching for awhile. Car was in excellant condition with 140k miles. It was just gonna be a commuter car, plus I need to make long trips and my other vehicles either leased (2005 Xterra), too impracticle (2001 CBR600F4) or too fast/unreliable(1992 Talon AWD). Car did awesome on some long trips and my GF actually preferred it over her 2001 Cavalier. Now in the last month a bunch of problems have cropped up.

First the gas guage doesn't work right, did some research and found its common on 1994 Accord. Bad thing is the trip odometer stopped working. So I have no real relaible gas guage. Question is I can't seem to find a fuel tank sender new, you have to buy a whole assembly which is too much $$$$. Should I just try to find a used one from a '95 or '96?? Or just swap out the cluster??

Biggest problem is the Automatic tranny. It shifted harshly so after some research I found high mileage trannies need flushing and to only use Honda fluid. I really don't have people work on my cars, I do all my own work- however I can't flush a tranny. I got a guy who I can trust to flush it, and I told him to use Honda tranny fluid only. Well after the flush its shifted somehwat better, then developed a worse problem. Now when it downshifts from overdrive to 3rd, it will slip for a second and the revs wll jump about 2000 rpm's. This has made the car so annoying to drive it now sits and we are driving the Cavalier. My guess is he may have done the flush, but used the wrong fluid. He only charged me for 2.5 quarts of fluid. If I just drain the fluid (maybe warm the car up and drain it for a day) and fill it with Genuine Honda fluid will it help?? Or do I need to find another tranny?

The car really is noisy when its cold. I first thought it was valves but now it sounds like piston slap (My LS1 Camaro did the same thing when cold). Goes away when its warm. Problem?? or just don't worry about it??

Thanks. I'm a mechanic and I can do anything I need to with this car, however I don't know alot about Hondas. Any help would be great.

 

As the Transmission is concerned.
I would drain and fill the transmission if the fluid is in question. Get about 10 quarts of "Genuine Honda ATF-Z1" (which is only sold at the dealerships, I paid 6.30/quart). Drain the fluid, about 3 quarts will come out. Refill, drive it, and repeat the process 2 more times. That will effectively change the trans fluid.

When checking the transmission fluid level, check it with the Engine off. This is different from other vehicles.

As for the Dashboard problems I would look in the junk yards for another cluster. Maybe someone else here could tell you what other years would fit.