First of all hello ladies and gentlemen. I am the new owner of my first Honda Accord it is a 1994 ex 4cyl automatic with 172k miles and it seems to be a really nice driving and great looking car. I just got the car in a trade. The previous owner told me the trans was bad and he brought it to me on a car dolly. I had already called on a trans price and was expecting to put one in. Well to my surprise after he left I cranked the car and drove it for about 5 miles with no issues. He had told me it would not even go in gear.

I need some help here. He told me that he bought it about 6 months ago. He drove it around 500 miles and the trans stopped working. He checked the fluid and it was black like it was burnt. He dropped the trans pan and drained and replaced fluid. He said then he drove about 200 miles and it stopped working again. Same process and it would move. Then it went 50 miles and stopped going into gear and that's when he set it on dolly about a month ago.

Well I got the car this week and it drove fine for 5 miles. I then drove it around 30 miles with no issues, but one time it hesitated between 3rd and od like it went into neutral real quick. I let off gas and patted it again and it shifted fine. I took the car to a local mechanic and he could not find any codes in it. The only issue I have is the abs light comes and goes off a lot.

I am wanting to sale the car soon, but do not want to sale it if the trans is bad. Just seems to me if it was really bad it would still be bad? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

What's the color of the ATF now? Does it seem to deteriorate rapidly with your short drives? If not, and if the tranny doesn't seem to be slipping between gears, I think I'd begin to look for a possible intermittent electrical problem.

 

The fluid looks great now, but he only drove it around 50 miles after last flush. I have put another 50 or so on it. He said it quit moving on him though and for me it is running fine except the one time it hesitated between 3rd and 4th.

 

I just cant get over the fact he said it would not even go in gear when he parked it. Then I get it and have probably driven 100 miles with no issues, but it makes me afraid to sale it in fear of trans going bad with new owner.