Here we go... I brought my '97 Prelude into a honda dealer today to give me a diagnostic of the problems it's having. The problems can be outlined in these two posts:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=250832
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=250833

Hopefully it's an electrical fault, or just the Torque Converter, but otherwise it may look like I will be replacing the whole transmission. The diagnostic is going to cost 85$ but I've been advised to bring it to a Honda Dealer because they have the right equipment.

I don't know *that* much about cars so I want to make sure the 85$ I will be spending doesn't go to waste ;/

Unless it will not cost more than 300$, I do not plan on actually having it fixed at the dealer. Does anyone know what I should look to be hearing from them that will be important and what smells like bs?

*really wants his car back*

 

DAMNIT

I finally got the call back and the tranny is slipping. It needs to be replaced The only hope I have now is that the car's tranny might still be under warranty. I know that the deal is usually 5 years + 100,000km. The car is a damn '97 so if it was originally purchased after August I might be in the clear. The other problem is the car has aftermarket:
DC Sport header, camshaft, cam gears, pulleys, exhaust, intake, strut bar, Super APEXi-AFC controller, but nothing to do with the transmission specifically. Should I be covered under warranty?!?!




[Modified by chronoshift, 1:32 PM 8/19/2002]

 

How many miles on it? The $85 may be covered by your warranty, do you know how to contact the warranty people? call them and ask about it.

for a 1997 with ~12000 miles a year, you are looking at something like 66000 miles right? that should be well within the warranty range.

All the other costs should be covered by warranty also.

 

The dealer can't refuse warranty service just because you have aftermarket parts; by law, they have to prove that your after market parts caused the failure if they want to go that route, but your best bet is to take the work order to an aftermarket friendly dealer, there should be some of those around your area. Why don't you post a new topic listing where you are and what dealers around have a good relationship with enthusiasts.

 

the delaer can refuse the warrenty, but the extended warrenty is usually through a warrenty dealer of some sort that might not be through honda themselves . i used to work at a chevy dealership and the extended warrenty that we had were though various companies that service gmc parts etc etc. the warrenty people might not honor it due to improper equipment on your engine. i gaurentee you that they will try to blame it on aftermarket parts just my .2cents from experience. if you can find a friendly independent service tech. they might be able to help you out. best of luck

 

if you dont pull everything off of that car before you take it in for warranty work....they won't honor it...believe me.....been there...dealt with that....and it isnt even worth thee hassle.....im sorry it happened to you as well.......but they will blame your mods...they will find a way....they blamed my tranny going on thee cars height and the rim size.......even if its honda certified...they arent going to honor it.....i took mine up with someone at american honda......and there was nothing he could do for me....believe me....he felt bad for me......but based on what thee head technicians at thee dealerships i took thee car into said....he had to deny replacing thee tranny for me....so pull it all off now.....take it from someone that spent almost 2 and a half months without their car...and i got my tranny from level 10....good stuff

 

**** YES

Car was bought in September and only has 80,000km on it. This means that I am still insured for the tranny!!!

Now it just might be a problem of taking off all the after market parts, I still have the factory exhaust/intake/springs/shocks/header/etc,etc.

Thank god!!! Imagine if I waited any longer jeeezus!

I really hope this works out. Thank you for all your input guys. I want my baby back

THEY ALREADY ORDERED IT! wow no hasslez


[Modified by chronoshift, 8:49 AM 8/20/2002]


heh yeah, I can't post anymore because my 5 posts of the day are up but first of all the guy at the dealership said he would look into the warranty for me ( he suggested it ) and I said that would be awesome. Then I called him back and he said his manager was in a meeting. I called back today and he said he spoke with his manager and he ok'd it for him, so he already ordered the transmission and it will get worked on tommorow!

heh yeah I had no hassles but that might be because when I spoke with him the very first time (to diagnose the car) I only left my key there and explained how to dismantle the alarm (that auto arms). They didn't do it properly after I stressed it and explained it three times on the phone, so when they called back to ask how to turn it off (which it can't be, without the remote control) I gave the guys **** for making me now wait an extra day to get my car looked at. I really hassled them about that one so I guess they figured I would hassle them about a warranty if they tried to pull a fast one on me with that too

I'm just so happy the works getting done,


[Modified by chronoshift, 1:57 PM 8/20/2002]

 

no hassles at the dealership? wow good stuff.... which dealership?

 

No hassles? I think I'll drive up to Canada the next time I have something to fix....

 

well damn....good for you....glad to hear that....but if they havent even said anything bout thee mods......and they already ordered thee tranny for you......then i wouldnt even worry about that ......they obviously arent bothered by thee fact that they are on there so you might not want to waste your time removing them all....and im really happy for ya.....wish i had been so lucky.....but im pretty damn happy with my car right now anyway

 

thanks man :D

Yeah the car is already there at the dealer and they already have it. so they know what mods are on it etc. They should start working on it tommorow!

This site is cool, I want to get off this trial membership bs ;/

 

My first post on this forum:

I own a 1998 Honda Prelude w/SportShift trans and had the same problem.
What happened to me was my fault. I was driving on the highway when this BMW 740 started tailgating me. I refused to get out of the speed lane because I was actually doing 75 in a 55 MPH zone.
I figured if he was that much in a hurry he would change lanes. He didn't and tailgated me for a few miles. I decided to do the VTEC thing and downshift a gear.
Wow! I took off like a bat out of hell, felt good to pull away from him. It became a pulling race and after a few times my tranny decided to free rev up to redline and cause the engine to momentarily cut off.

I ended up limping it home. When driving normally it shifted fine until I got to 3rd gear than it shifted, lurched and clunked and than to 4th.

I took it to the dealer and test drove it with a tech to duplicate the problem. At last!! I was able duplicate the problem. (I thought for sure the Prelude would be on it's best behavior and not show any signs of trouble)

The tech asked me a few questions while test driving:
*Did you change the trans fluid yourself? If so than you needed to flush the system or you will get premature trans failure. (Something to do with trapped air and dirty residual fluids clogging things in the trans)
*Did you know Honda Automatics are notorius for premature failure?
*Did you know that stock Honda automatics can't handle 200+ horsepower?

The tech was nice, the sevice writer wasn't, he refused to warranty the trans because I was at 36,200 miles (200 over the warranty) He said because I haven't been bringing my Honda in for service that I was just neglecting the car. I told him I do all my minor maintenance (Tune-up, brakes,tires etc.) He pondered for awhile and I told him I could show receipts that I do the maintenance myself. He said that if I brought in the documentation that he would consider warranty on the trans.

After all that, My trans was considered a warranty item. The service writer even commented on the engine mods and didn't even mention anything about it contributing to the trans failure.

My down time was about 2 days. The dealer would only pay for a Geo Metro rental car for me.

I am now weary of downshifting like that. It's been 17,000 miles since my trans replacement. I've pushed it once in awhile, but not like before. The only problems I've noticed is:
*If your stopped and you try to shift back to park (P) from drive(D) slowly, the trans gets stuck in Neutral(N) and won't allow it move to park(P). I have to go back to drive(D) and than a hard clunk like a neutral drop happens.
I then have to be a bit more forceful in getting it to park and all is fine.
* A few small leaks appearing at the trans housing.

Oh well, Hope everything goes well with your Lude!!!

 

woah. I'm glad you got your tranny covered too. I've redlined the car before too and I guess that probably contributed to this ;/ I won't do it anymore though

My down time is much longer unfortunetly, and I don't have a loaner either

It happened two sundays ago, however the dealer only got it last sunday and should have the car ready for tommorow afternoon.

If my transmission wasn't covered, I was almost going to consider trying to get a Manual transmission instead

I am -so- lucky that my transmission was still covered. Had I of waited 2 weeks longer, my 5 year warranty would have expired.

Now that I have some extra money (that I was going to spend on this transmission)) I wonder what I should do with it (to put towards the car) 8)

 

alright....i got f*cked here......of course....everybody got a new tranny but me.....i just got one thats actually gonna last now......(fingers crossed)

 

heh I just got a call from the dealer. The tranny is in and they are just about to take mine out and install the new one, but they also have to replace some lame cable that isn't covered 68$bux...

ah well