1991 Honda Accord LX, 2.2L, auto trans, recent trans swap. No codes read, no CEL, no flashing lights.

My wife called me while driving our 91 Honda Accord to lunch yesterday and told me that the tranny went out of gear, she turned the car off, waited, and then started it and it went into gear just to go out again a few secs later. I went to get her, checked the car and this is what its doing still: Start the car, it goes into all gears both Sports and Regular modes, then slips out of all gears about 15 to 30 secs later. ALSO, if I start the car and wait 60 secs and try to put it into gear it WILL NOT. Fluid level seems fine, fluid clear (cking fluid level with engine OFF, correct?). I had my daughter turn the key on (no start) while I listened to the lockup solenoids. THey clicked on. Is this supposed to happen? I thought they only came on when you put the car in gear.

History: I JUST got this car on the road, inspected and tagged. I had to change the tranny because my wife accidentally shifted into reverse while moving forward. Nuff said . Anyhow, got the new tranny from junk yard. It worked fine. I have actually driven the car close to 3000 miles already before this started happening.

I will be working on this problem for the next few days. If I come up with a solution I will post it here for you all. Any and all help is appreciated. This is our ONLY family car. The only other vehicle we have is my 95 Ford diesel truck which will put us in a homeless shelter if we have to depend on it for daily transpo. lol

 

You must check the transmission with the car on level ground.
There is a hash mark on the dipstick, the level needs to be within the hash cold or hot. The clicking is normal, when the car is off the solenoids are off, when turned on the solenoids will be turned on and depending on what gear is selected a combination of the solenoids will be energized.

If the fluid is fresh and clean and does not smell burnt it possibly could be the trans from the yarde car was bad. Do you know how many miles were on the trans you got from the yarde?

 

Well, that would be bad news. I don't know how many miles but the fact that the car is a 91 it was probably alot. How can the tranny be bad if it changes gears solidly and normally and then just quits after 30 seconds? That sounds like a computer problem to me. I've never heard of a tranny that needed to be rebuilt unless the clutches were slipping from wear.