Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to chase down some transmission problems on my wife's CRV with an automatic transmission. About 1 month ago, we backed out of our driveway and put the car in D4 only to have the car rev as if it were in neutral and have the check engine light come on. At the advice of a friend, I swapped the transmission fluid 3 times with Honda Z1 fluid, driving in between each session. As I swapped more and more fluid, the CRV began to drive better and better. After the final (3rd) swap, the car felt like it was driving normally again. I disconnected the battery for 30 minutes to reset the computer, and the CEL went away. For a month, the car drove perfectly. This all changed yesterday.

Yesterday, the car felt like it was slipping quite a bit, and felt as if the car was stuck in first or 2nd gear. I was unable to drive much over 30mph as the car would hover around 3,000 rpms at 30, and there were diminishing returns trying to push it any faster. The car was only driveable if I accelerated very slowly. I had the check engine light code read as: P0730 "faulty shift control system" or "incorrect gear ratio", as it read on the diagnostic tool.

If I swapped the linear solenoid and A/B solenoids, would this help, or is this error code the sign of a dying transmission? Thank you for your help.

 

we have the same problem on my spare crv..... same CEL too, ive done the flush even
the purge w/ a pure oem atf, i must have bought more than 2dozens already, the car is
driving much better now after all those things done, but still has the same CEL and at
times the o/d doesn't engage... theres that hesitation on lower gears(1st/2nd) then once
it passed through itll drive smoothly.....

what ive done so far was replaced all gasket from the linear and a/b solenoid... ive just
bought in a spare tranny coz i thought the old tranny might be the problem, somebody
told me that my torque converter might have issues already... a clogged or damaged
internals...!?!? thats why my last resort was send out my spare t.converter before
opening the tranny again... other than that may be check all the parts from the shift
sensor, but im betting on the torque converter..hopefully!!

 

Thank you for your advice. Did you replace the linear and A/B solenoid gaskets only or did you replace the solenoids along with new gaskets? I've got a source for a couple of good used solenoids, but need to find the gaskets. Where did you order yours from?

 

just the gaskets....

look the part no. on any honda parts online store, i just picked it up on a
dealership near mine since i need asap, but its cheaper online!

 

I pulled the plug off of the linear solenoid last night and checked it with my ohm meter. It measured at 5.3 ohms, which sounds to be correct. I also checked the A/B solenoids, by putting one lead on the ground and the other on the wire in the harness, and both measured 14-15 ohms. Does this sound correct?

 

This morning I attempted to take the car to a local shop for a 2nd opinion on the cars status. When I started the car, the D4 indicator light started flashing. Since the shop is less than 2 miles away, I thought I could limp it along over there. About halfway, I start hearing a semi high pitched groaning noise coming from the transmission followed by a grumbling/grinding sound. After this happened a couple of times, I attempted to drive up a slight hill where all forward motion stopped completely.

I rechecked all the solenoid wires, and they were all still plugged in (had to make sure it wasn't something dumb I did). I believe the transmission is toast now. Does anyone know the approximate cost of having it rebuilt or replaced?

Thanks

 

jut replace it for now...
rebuild form aamco is 2k+ from what they qoute me, it might go close
to 3k.. its not that worth, since your 2wd. look into the option of integra
tranny.. i read that theres an extra plug from the crv's harness compared
to an integra... it might be another sensor or whatever, but theres a lot
of integras being cobverted into 5speed.. youd find one easily here or on
a local listing in your area...most of these trannys are junk to them..you
might get lucky and catch a good deal in one.... then try to compare it
side by side.. look for what components are missing or different from each
other.....

pm me.....

 

any update??

my tranny started acting up again.. its almost 6weeks since the last time it happened...
i guess i have to replace the torque converter now...after that if its still gonna act up,
im done with it..........

 

A transmission shop determined that there wasn't enough hydraulic pressure on the line, which is an indicator of an internal problem. To diagnose the tranny further, they wanted $430 just to pull it and disassemble it, and could not give me a firm price on a rebuild. Rather than spend $400 to have him tell me it would be another $2,000, I opted to sell AS-IS and replace the car. Good news is that the car sold in less than 24 hours, and I have since replaced the vehicle. Thanks for all of the help.

 

full b20 swap with a tranny is not that much , why dont you just get one...

 

man.....i just now starting to have the same problem,,,,hopefully i just need to change my fluid....i change it a while back..with royal purple atf..
im about to change it tonight

 

^^
i had a bad experience not using oem atf.. same thing back in P.I. my crv almost lost
its tranny...good thing i switched back to eom fluids, then it was good again, here my
tranny is still good after a while of diagnosing it, my last resort was to change the torque
converter..ive covered all base this is the last thing i didnt do, hopefully this will solve
the problem!! otherwise...... so long 4wd crv! welcome J-series V! lol...

 

yeah im about to do that...3x 4x thingy...
do the drain, fill, drive maybe 2x..keep the 3x for a while...

how much exactly does it hold?

atf z1 or the dw1?

 

z1...
i did the drain-fill thing... drain it 1st then fill then drive around, make sure you
hit all gears including in reverse, if your on a lift put it on drive then rev up to 2.5k rpm
making sure it shift all into gears...also reverse! then drain and fill again!! then your
good! but in my case after the 2nd fill i drove it for 500miles, daily driving.... then i
drain and fill it again, just to be sure..LOL!

 

any updates....

 

I sold the car about a month ago, because my recommended transmission shop couldn't quote an exact price. He told me it would cost $400 to pull it and examine it, and then could give me a quote. At that point I would be committed to repair it at $2000-3000, or have to pay him another $400 to put it back together. I didn't like the idea of spending at least $800 and having a broken car. The good news is that the car sold in just a little over 1 day after listing it. If I had a 3rd vehicle, I would have worked on it myself as I had time, but I didn't have the time/skills to do a swap myself in my garage. Thanks again for everyones help on suggesting different ideas for me.

 

Torque Converters are know to fail on the Gen 1. U cannot replace just the torque converter because there will be debris left in the transmission from the old one. A new transmission will be needed. Any Gen 1 trans is interchangeable. Look at car-part.com for junkyard listing. They aren't that difficult to replace with a good set of tools, jack stands and mechanical inclination. I replaced my in a weekend with one out of a junkyard. Cost me $400 for the trans and about another $100 for fluid and a trashed motor mount i found during the swap.