So, instead of throwing money to the stealership right off the bat, I thought some of the wise users and DIYers could give me some suggestions about the problem i'm heaving. I've scoured forums and articles online and realize there are many threads about transmission problems but what gets me is that I see combinations of symptoms from various problems people have encountered. I know no one wants to read a novel so I'll try to make it short and to the point.

Recently, my car ('98 Civic EX, automatic transmission) has been "rumbling" and hard shifting when accelerating from a stop. Maybe this qualifies as a "jerk" that many describe but it does not seem so drastic to me. It is just very slow and has a hard time catching.

Transmission problems seem to occur after it has warmed up - I see this is a common symptom for various problems.

Engine light came on when driving on a road trip (do not have the codes with me ATM but will post back as soon as I get home - basically faulty transmission codes though)

Most recently, driving on the interstate my car did not want to shift into 5th gear if I accelerate too quickly. It will stay at a high RPM and every so often I will hear a belt give off a quick squeal. My serpentine belt is loose (I believe - it gives off a shrill squeal sometimes until I give the accelerator some juice. I was told this won't affect the transmission though). When I very gradually accelerate it will shift through all gears though (albeit a bit later than I feel like it normally does).

I checked the transmission fluid and it seemed to be a little low (It was very hard to get a clean dip though because of the location) so I added some fluid and it seemed to help for a couple days, but has progressively just gotten worse again. The color was still a nice pinkish/red and regular maintenance has been done, except it is maybe a thousand or so miles past its most recently scheduled transmission flush.

Thanks to all for any help you can give me!

 

You obviously need to post the specific CEL and/or D4 codes.

Also do three sequential drain-refill cycles with Honda ATF or Honda-recommended ATF.

 

Although not recommended by Honda, my buddy's civic had a similar issue. We used Lucas trans-fix oil, and after a bit of time driving around, the tranny was almost as good as new. Every other backyard mechanic I talk to also speaks wonders of Lucas. But like I said, we are backyard mechanics.

 

Codes are as follows:
P0700 - Automatic transmission fault
1. Indicates trans fault - check other codes

P0730 - Faulty shift control system
Probable cause:
1 - low transmission fluid level
2 - poor electrical connection
3 - failed transmission shift control system

As far as the Lucas Trans Fix Oil, do they sell that at most basic autozone or advanced auto stores? Cuz hey, backyard mechanics works for me. Do I just top off my transmission fluid and if so, do I have to worry about overfilling?

 

Don't over fill.

...Then hope for the best.

 

I had no idea the civic autos were 5 speeds. are you sure it isn't just a lockup torque converter instead of a 5th gear?

 

The auto is 4 speed

 

Sorry, my mistake. Could it have overdrive then? The reason I thought it was 5 gears is because when it shifts properly there are four distinct drops in rpm and gear disengagements/re-engagements.

Thanks so much for those instructions though! I will definitely have to give that a try. As far as the three consecutive drain and refills, do you have to use new transmission fluid for each refill?

I have also seen people say to drive the car through the gears or manually shift the gears under the hood, though I'm not sure how to do the latter. Is this necessary as well?

Also, if I end up just going to get diagnostics done at a dealership will they just end up saying I should flush the transmission and hope that's all it is? Or do they have a way of knowing if it's something more specific? I just don't want to drop $200 on diagnostics and a flush and then find out that there's more wrong with it.

My other thing about doing a 3X drain and fill is spending $120 for 10 qts of fluid and not knowing if it's going to help at all.. and then what do I do with all the extra fluid? Refill the bottles and give it back to the people i bought it from?

 

I think overdrive is 3rd gear.

Absolutely. The point of the 3 cycles is to replace all of the old ATF with new ATF. It takes 3 cycles because you only remove 2/3 of the ATF when you drain the transmission. The other 1/3 is trapped in the torque converter.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/99-civic-w-160k-change-atf-has-never-been-replaced-ok-bad-2941515/


Just turn the engine on and slowly move through ALL of the gears one at a time P-R-D4-D3-2 then 2-D3-D4-R-P. Do this several times. This will mix the new ATF with the old ATF in the torque converter, thereby diluting the old ATF.

They'll either do the 3 ATF cycle or tell you to replace the transmission. Better to do this yourself and save some money.

For this purpose, I use (Honda-recommended) Valvoline Max Life Dex/Merc ATF, which I can find for $3-$4/quart.

You can recycle old motor oil or ATF at auto parts stores.

 

Thanks so much for your input! I was able to find that transmission oil you were talking about for about $17/gal, though not quite as good the prices you're able to find I feel a lot better about spending $50 for the 3x drain/fill.

Is there any way to determine, however, if it is an electrical issue such as a a solenoid? Or maybe an ECU fault? I considered the possibility that it was the VSS except I have no problems with the spedometer that seems to be consistent with those issues.

Either way, I plan on doing the drain/fill regardless because I am about due for one - just was curious (if this doesn't resolve my problem) if there is a simple way of diagnosing something electrical like that.

 

For the transmission code you have, I'd start with the drain-refill cycles and then go from there.

 

Thanks Ron,

I have to borrow some ramps from my brother-in-law so it will be another day or two before I can get this going - I will post back with an update afterwards though. Just one last question for now - should I notice a difference immediately after the final refill?

 

Hopefully

 

Am I correct in thinking this is one of the Honda transmissions (or maybe they all are) that has a filter built into the transmission? So I would just need to clean off the magnetic drain plug and not bother with a new filter?

 

There's no easy way to clean the internal filter or there might not even be one. Yeah, just clean the drain bolt.

 

Well, i appreciate all your help and advice, but unfortunately my dumba** just totalled my car. So unfortunately we'll never know. Thanks anyway..

 

Sorry to hear that. Want to sell any parts? What color car?

 

Hmm i've been thinking about it.. as crunched as the front bumper is it still starts and i'm thinking about hammering it out to see if I can get it to run another couple weeks until I find something new. Other than that, my plan was to probably sell some parts. It's that dark foresty green that you've probably seen a million other civics in the same color. What do you think you might be interested in?

 

I'd take it in and get an alignment. If it aligns properly you can likely repair the car or target any bent suspension parts for inspection/replacement. Otherwise I'm looking for a rear bumper and maybe the engine. Was hoping for white though...
Where are you located?

 

Hmm that's a good call.. i'll have to get that checked out but first I just kind of wanna see how smushed the radiator may or may not be, and anything else up toward the nose of the engine compartment.
Eck - i'm in Wisconsin though, and see you're from CA, so that's either a very long drive or some massive shipping

 

Radiators are cheap.

 

Ouch, was reading thru and I was gonna say the filter may be clogged, or one if the other 4 filters automatic transmissions have. You couldn't just clean them, they HAVE to be replaced with new.

But the cars wrecked, so its pointless to say now. :/

Sorry to hear about your car! Hopefully the damage done will be easy to repair!