I have a 98 EX auto 4-cyl sedan with 162K on the engine. I had the tranny rebuilt a few years ago with no probs and recently before I had the transmission fluid flushed a few weeks ago reverse would always shift in hard. No matter from what gear (park or drive), reverse would shift hard.

Post-flush I have not experienced the hard shift anymore but now I am getting a spike in RPMs when I accelerate sometimes, with the car not responding to the pedal and it seems to happen more frequently when the car is cold and b/w 2nd-3rd gear. The engine revs up but the transmission is late to respond to the pedal. The RPMs suddenly drop and then away I go.

I guess these would be gear slips, with the loss of acceleration b/w 2nd-3rd gear with only a spike in RPM with no response to the accelerator. Is this in fact a tranny problem or something else?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I don't know what is causing your problem, but I do know that Honda does not recommend this type of transmission flush - someone out there can probably point to the TSB they issued about this.

 

Flush is not recommended. Can you call the place that did it and find out what type of fluid they put in? Sounds like the fluid is wrong.

 

Wow, did not know that a flush is not recommended. I went to a local Jiffy Lube for an oil change and on the up-sell I figured why not along with a coolant flush. Fail on my part.

The place is closed today for MLK, but the service log on the receipt states "multi-vehicle ATF".

I gather only changing out the fluid is what's usually performed correct?

 

Yes - simply drain it.

You only get about 1/2 to 1/3 the total amount by draining it, so people repeat the process 2 or 3 times to get as much out as practical.