I have a 97 Accord SE with the non-vtec motor. I just bought it for very cheap knowing it had issues but thought worst case senario I would have to replace the tranny. Just so you have the back story. It was slighly flooded a couple months ago (just the floor boards had a couple inches of water) and the previous owner had thrown lots of money at it. Replaced the ECU, new water pump, wires, timing belt, plugs etc. He claims that it ran great for a couple of weeks but then the speedometer went crazy and the car died. He had the tranny fluid changed out with Honda fluid too. His mechanic replaced two sensors. He said the speed sensor and something else that he can't remember.

I just bought the car a couple of days ago and start diagnosing. First thing I decide to do is replace the ECU to rule that out. I have not had any codes this entire time, not even the flashing "D" light for tranny codes. I pulled the lockup solenoid and shift control solenoid. I test them and all four work and make a loud clicking sound and I cleaned them out. While one of them was out I started the car to make sure fluid would pump out so the pump works too. I drained and filled with Honda fluid as well. Car will sometimes go into reverse but only at a speed as if I were idling, so even if I hit the gas the car does not go any fater in reverse. Once I put it into drive nothing happens. Usually it will only allow this slight reverse only after just starting the car. There is a slight whinning sound from the transmission too.

What other test can I perform? Could it that the shift cable is faulty but that wouldn't explain the complete lack of power when the vehicle does actually make it into gear. Thanks for the help.

Car has 230,000 miles.

 

Well I picked up another Junkyard tranny from a 97 with only 120,000 miles. The fluid looked good too. I get home and it matches my old tranny perfectly. I try to install and everything goes together except the torque converter is pressing is touching the bolts for the rear mail seal. There is no gap thus making it impossible to turn the crank. I have removed the tranny twice now trying to ensure that the TC is seated properly and it is. What is going on?

I just read the shop manual and I did everything the same except I did not loosen the front engine mount, obviously that was not necessary because I was easily able to remove two transmissions without touching the front mount. I would say the TC sticks out only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the bell housing. I can't even tighten the tranny mounting bolts all the way because it smashes the TC.

You can see the TC pushing the flexplate to the point where it is touching the rear main seal bolt head and pretty much resting on the oil pan too!







Here is a picture from the front side (near the front bumper) you can notice that the tranny to block mounting bolt cannot even tighten all the way






I tried to get a better pic of how much the TC protrudes from the bellhousing but it was getting dask and you can get a goo idea from the other pics too.





Thanks for the help. Can not loosening the front engine mount cause these issues? I can swear that I have many times seated the TC and reseated it to make sure I am not screwing up. I even have been messing around with my old tranny and TC to see if I can seat that TC deeper and it is the same.

 

I have figured out the problem! No I did not remove or touch the drive plate (flexplate). When the torque converter is fully and properly seated on the input shaft it will sit lower than the edge of the bell housing by about 1/3-1/2 inch. I was finally able to figure this out by messing around with the old transmission and torque converter, after about 10 minutes I finally clicked them together so that it sat about 1/2 inch below the rim of the bell housing. Unfortunately I may have slightly ruined my new transmission and/or torque converter by tightening down the tranny mounting bolts while the TC was not fully seated. I could not for the life of me get the new torque converter to install onto the new or old transmission so I think I may have only slightly messed up the new torque converter and hopefully not the input shaft on the tranny.

THE TC WILL CLICK CLUNK (DROP DOWN) ONTO THE INPUT SHAFT THREE TIMES TO BE FULLY SEATED.

If you look at the input shaft there are three distinct levels of splines that must match the TC. I was having issues with the last set of splines which is located at the base of the input shaft and these splines are only about a 1/3 inch deep. These are the splines I did not have lined up and that third of an inch is all I needed in order for me to be capable of turning the crankshaft to line up the TC to flexplate bolts (the 8 small bolts). I am going to finish the tranny install tonight so wish me luck on three things.

1. The junkyard tranny is internally in proper working condition.
2. I did not damage the input shaft of the junkyard tranny by tightening down with the TC not fully seated.
3. The torque converter I am using is from my old tranny (the one that may have had water damage) and I hope that TC is not faulty.
I just hope someone in my same situation can learn from my mistakes.

 

If you need help diagnosing or need a TC let us know!

 

I sure will! Hopefully all is well when I finish the install tonight. Do you think the symptoms of my first post could have been a faulty TC? What are some ways to check a TC without running it inside the tranny? I actually did have to help the TC down onto the last set of splines. It got it to do its third clunk so I know it was on the last set of splines but it did not slide on completely. I used two rubber mallets and hit the TC at the same time on opposite ends to get it to go about 1/4 of an inch further.

 

You may have damaged the pump gears, so I would take a really close look at that. Also, you can try replacing the torque converter as there is no real way to test without the proper machinery

 

Like the post above said i think u damaged the pump gears if u forced the tranny bolts in , specially if you did it with a impact gun , there is no way around it but to get another trans , unles ss u got the ***** to transfer everithing from the new trans to the old one everithing exept the pump

 

Update:

I have the new tranny installed. Everything is running just fine now. The only issue is that I could not put the bottom Torque converter plate on because there is very slight rubbing against it. I am sure that I could bent the plate out a little but I really do not see any harm leaving it off. I have only taken the car on a 10 minute drive. Unfortunately I get a P0720 code because one of the sensor wire clips broke so I tried to quickly stick them together. I will have to either replace that clip or just remove both ends and hardwire it. Thanks for the help so far.