im thinking about buying a clean 89 civic 4 door with 38,000 original miles. the only thing wrong with the car is the auto tranny when shifting into 2nd gear it vibrates the entire car just like your a re driving over a bunch of rumble strips on the side of the road at a slower speed.

im having a hard time finding a replacement tranny for it so im thinking about swapping it to a 5spd.

im also curious if an auto tranny from a newer automatic civic would work.

any help would be appreciated. thanks

 

Take it to a tranny shop n have them rebuild it brahh

 

costs too much money for that. replace with a good one or 5 spd swap is way cheaper. i have everything for a 5 spd swap. i would just rather keep it an auto so my wife could drive it. lol

 

Firstly, the transmission probably needs a full fluid flush. only way a car that old has that low of miles is because it was sitting a long, long time. oils brake down over time, definately would NOT drive on it.

Secondly to use a newer auto transmission not only requires an obd1 conversion but some extra wiring and dpfi-mpfi as well.

swapping to a 5spd isn't exactly a cake walk on the 88-89's either, from what i've read honda did NOT provide the hole or support bracket for the clutch cable untill 1990 on factory automatic cars. there are write up's though on how to get around this and perform the auto to manual conversion. i used them when i converted my sedan (90 lx) to manual. mainly just time consuming.

 

i never thought about the wiring aspect of it with the newer trannys. thanks for the heads up on that.

i had kinda thought about the fluid being old too. it does shift into the other gears fine. when i test drove the car it was getting dark out so i didnt bother to check the color of the fluid or the level.

 

i should mention too that the owner did say the car sat for 15 years in his grandmas garage.

 

Id get it changed out asap with honda atf

 

if i get the car, which i am wanting to do, then i will do that before i do anything else.