I was going down i-95 when i get this huge jerking motion (Like a downshift in a manual car) I looked behind me and checked if there was any smoke coming out of the tail pipe, none. When this jerk occurred the rpm shot way up and it deaccelerated to about 30mph (which was the highest it could go)

I stop the car under a overpass and checked under the car to check for a blown headgasket (coolant and oil coming out?) NONE. So I think the headgasket is fine BUT the coolant was bubbling and the temp guage was looking like it was about to overheat.



FAST FORWARD to 3:00AM

I decided to drive the car off I-95 at 3am
Car started up just fine and even when to 60mph no hiccups going back home all 45miles at 50-60mph

any ideas?

the car has never had tranny fluid replaced (im not sure) and it has about 145k miles on it. the mechanic wants to replace the whole tranny for $1800 but I think he might just do a fluid change and replace a selenoid or sensor.

 

How do you know the coolant was bubbling? There shouldn't be any bubbles in the coolant unless there is a headgasket issue

 

Change the transmission fluid, it's overdue. Strain it and check for debris. (only use Honda ATF-Z1 fluid)

When's the last time the coolant was changed? Probably needs to be done. Bleed the coolant system to relieve any potential air pockets are you drain and refill the radiator.

When you say it was bubbling, do you mean it sounded like it was boiling? Or was it coming out of the white plastic reservoir between the radiator and battery?

You might also want to have it scanned to see if there are any stored codes.

Was the "D" indicator on the gauge cluster blinking at all?




Being that it was seemingly an intermittent issue, and not an ongoing one, it's a bit harder to guess what caused it.

 

ATF-DW1 now, full synthetic oem fluid, just by the way