Hey guys its nice to be here & I hope You can help Me out. I have this 4 cylnder 96 Accord lx with an automatic trans. & its ran great but I noticed that lately it would rev a little high befor shifting into the 2nd gear. I figured beings that it was getting cold out, mabey it needed to warm up a little longer. So I did & it was fine. Now all of a sudden with no warning the car wont shift any higher than 2nd gear 30 mph & the check engine light came on. So I went to kragens & bought a new filter kit & some new fluids, hoping that mabey the filter might be clogged up but the trouble is I have no idea where to start. My cheezball chilton book devotes about half a page to the automatic trans & basicly tells You how to change the fluids & thats it.I cant seem to find any videos online & Iam to broke to let some tranny shop rip me off. If any body could give me some tips or some shop manual pics or anything that could help me out, would be great. Also when I drained the fluid, i didnt find any shavings, so iam thinking if I can actualy change the filter, that the tranny might be ok. Any help would be appreciated. thanks- Dave

 

Drain and fill with Honda Z1 or DW1 fluid, then get the codes.

 

There is no serviceable filter in the 5th gen Accord transmission...

Get OEM Honda ATF and use that - not whatever random fluid you purchased from Kragens. Also do not use any of the 'trans fix' additive ****.

I'm also surprised you haven't bothered having the CEL scanned yet - that should give you a good idea of what's wrong.

 

Kragens just sold me a AT filter replacement kit for a 96 accord lx 4 cylinder with an automatic trans, & basicly your telling me that they dont exist. Dont get me wrong, Iam not doubting You, but conflicting statements screw with inquireing minds. If thats the case I guess Id better ask for my money back. Anyways the random fluid I purchaced was Z1, hope it wrks. I dont carry a code scanner on my hip but Ill have the codes later today. thanks-Dave

 

Thermostat good? ECT good? My '96 shifts high, like yours, for the first few miles driving after a below-freezing start. I pretty sure the ECU looks at engine temp and delays shifts on a cold engine. If the engine never warms up due to an open thermostat, or if the ECT resistance is too high telling the ECU that the engine is always cold, then shifts would always be delayed.

 

No worries - key part of my statement is the wording

A filter exists, it is just not serviceable. Honda did not mean for it to be replaced. You will have to take apart the transmission housing to access it.

 

Cool! that clears up alot for me & makes sense of the fact that I didnt see a pan
down their. My buddie is dropping off a scanner to me today, so Ill drain & refill it like You said & then check the codes. A few more questions though. when I drain it, should I drain it all including the tourq conv, & if Yes, how? because
when I pulled the plug, only about three quarts came out,so I know theirs more in their. Also when You say to replace the filter I would have to take the housing apart would that also mean that I would actually have to pull the whole thing out to do that, or is it possible to disassemble the houseing and be able to access & change it from underneath? Definately I respect Your knowledge & appreciate any You share with Me. Ive been working on cars My whole life & not afraid to get dirty but this is My first car made in japan.Thanks again-Dave
Oh yeah,to ROADER, thanks for the tip, Ill check that stat.

 

my scanner code came back p0715

 

Yeah, it's difficult to get ALL the fluid when you do the drain/refill. I believe the manual suggests doing it 3 times to get as much fluid swapped out as possible so it cycles through. Essentially just drain whatever you can out then fill it back up and use the dipstick as your guide for the amount to put in. Drive around for a bit then drain it again. You are probably ok just doing it once or twice to get the majority of it good to go. The fact you had no shavings on the drain bolt is promising but could still have other issues.

And yes, you'd need to take apart the transmission to access it - I don't think it would even be possible with it in the vehicle.

 

This is the main shaft speed sensor that is located in the transmission which isn't the easily accessible vehicle speed sensor on top of the transmission

 

Honda Service Bulletin:

MIL Comes On With A/T DTC P0715

 

Yeop. It's located in the valvebody/pickup area which is sandwiched between the TC housing and the main case of the transmission.

 

the dtc P0175 i believe is stating that your system is either running too rich or too lean. i just pulled a similar code of a gmc yukon except the last number was different stating bank 1 was running lean. in your case inline 4. that would have nothing with your transmission.

also yea be sure to use honda genuine trans fluid. otherwise it wont function properly those trans are real sensitive to that and also fill level should be almost perfect.

 

Hey guys, thanks alot for the advice on my 96 accord. I just got back from three days of r&r in south lake tahoe & iam ready to fix. Iam going to put a new vss on the thing & see what happens. From what I hear, if that dont work means I need a new tranny.Anyways a friend of mine has a 97 accord 2.2 accord lx theft recovery that was shot up by the cops. Its got some holes in the
windows & rear quarterpanels but still runs ok.He said I could get anything I needed from it befor He parts it out but the trouble is that its a manual trans. & mine is AT.Just to save a few bucks, do you know if the vss is interchangeable between auto & manual? Thanks -Dave

 

The error has nothing to do with the VSS so that is not going to help or do anything.

You may seriously want to just change out the fluid again with some Honda ATF and have the ECU reset to see if the code returns.

 

ok,so your saying that the main shaft speed sensor is located inside the trans. & is not easily accessible vss located on top of the trans. Damn, that screws up my gameplan of a quick fix. So Your telling Me that I would have to pull the trans to even get to that main shaft sensor. I guesss I will contiue with the fluid flush & see what happens. Can I reset the ecu by just disconnecting the battery,or no? Ill get back to you this evening.thanks

 

Hey everyone, FNG here! First post ever to any forum. I'm a above average DIY guy, but automatic trans are very new field for me. As you read this I just finished swapping my 97 accord EX automatic I picked up from Pick N Pull. Everything is good other than the trans doesn't engage? Shifts fine but never engages, no bump, no drag, no slip, nada! Acts as if it's in neutral in all gears other than when in Park, which it then locks the axles. So after some research, head scratching, and cursing I'm lost.

I'm using mercron V(5) from walmart that says it's for Honda vehicles, it took 5qts to reach the FULL line while engine is at idle. I'm assuming this isn't the problem but reassurance from an experienced tech would be great. I unplugged the solenoids and jumped them with battery power and they're clicking which I'm assuming they're working fine. So next I pulled the easiest accessible trans line off the trans(the one right above the solenoids), with engine running and no oil pumped out! My next assumption is there should be oil pumping constantly, where do I search for clogs? So being green to automatic transmissions, where do I go from here?

 

well I flushed my trans & reset the ecu & the car will only go in reverse. It makes a high pitched whining sound in park, neutral & in D1. The weird thing is that My check engine light did not come on & when I retested it, no error codes, it said only "OK". So i guess this means I have to replace the transmission after all. thanks for all the advice though. If You have any more for Me, Ill take it.

 

my 96 accord did exactly the same thing. sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you need to replace the transmission or have it rebuilt

 

Wich pic n pull did You go to?