My girlfriend's 1998 4cyl Accord is still going strong at 280,000. I am not sure what was done to it before she got it, but the engine is clean and leak-free, the transmission pulls well and doesn't slip, and it's all-around been a good car for her. I know the Civics of this generation (96-00) had a huge problem with their automatic transmissions, and I was wondering if the 4cyl Accords from 1998-2002 were also struck with this issue.

I know that one remedy is to keep the transmission fluid as clean as possible, by adding an external Magnaflow transmission filter. We did a drain / refill of her transmission fluid .. probably about a year ago now, using Honda ATF. I would hate to ever see her car die due to the dreaded automatic transmissions of the era.. and was wondering these two things:

1) Are the 1998-2002 Accords as prone to crappy automatic transmissions as the 1996-2000 Civics were?
2) Would it be a decent idea to add an in-line transmission filter, or should we just let it alone and let it ride?

 

Yes, the auto trans in the 98-02 Accords had more than its share of failures. Heat is the major "killer", so if you are going to do anything add a cooler and change the fluid on a very regular timeline/miles.

There is a good write up on "Sonnax" about "why" these trans fail....can't find my link to it right now.