Brief history - car well maintained. Had the second timing belt replaced at 190K miles at the dealership because I had a coupon tho I had never used the dealership before - did water pump, timing belt and oil pan gasket because they said it leaked even tho I had never lost oil and never had any in the driveway. Bad move on the dealership AND the oil pan gasket, I think.

Shortly after, the CEL came on and I went straight to Pep Boys (closest) to have the code pulled as I didn't want to drive it with the CEL on. The code came back to V-tech and based on the recent work they said take back to Honda. Drive home. Looked up V-tech and first thing was to check oil. Went out to check oil - NONE. Kinda pissed PepBoys didn't at least suggest a quick peak at the oil level. (And the check oil light NEVER CAME ON - Honda service suggested later when I asked that the light might be burned out? I call BS - how could it be burned out if it comes on during start-up like all dash lights?)

Had towed to Honda because I felt it might be something they did and I was ready to raise hell. Apparently during that 5 miles from the light on to PepBoys and home, I locked a piston. They said a piston ring blew, asked if I saw black exhaust smoke (no) and said I burned off all of the oil and now needed a new engine. I was planning on handing this car down to my daughter in 8 months so I decided to go with a used engine - 108K miles, 3year warranty ($3800). They pulled the axles to get the engine in - they were warped so new front axles tho after being annoyed, they said the CV joints were about to go and they were original and boots intact - I got my money's worth so done ($450) so now I've got over $4K invested.

Fast forward to now. Found a good independent mechanic - friend referral. Daughter is now driving it. I must teach her a few things. Check engine light has been on and grinding noise (greeeaaat) turned out to be brakes down to metal (went through pads in 6 months). New rotors and brakes but they were original - again, got my money's worth. But the check engine came back to transmission; fluid a little low. He did some research and replaced a solenoid (not sure which) for free and said to see if that made a difference. Kiddo said it helped a little. I drove it and it still revs 1Krpms between gear shifts.

Now, had I thought I'd need a new/rebuilt transmission in a year, I wouldn't have put any into this car. Body great, interior great and otherwise sound but 8K in a 2001 car? I could have gotten a 'younger' used car although I wouldn't know how it was treated like this one. I know I will be taking it back to the mechanic and I will have to make some decisions.

It could be the TCC solenoid but probably not. It could be the torque converter and there has been some debate on here (and other boards) as to whether a torque converter should be replaced or the whole transmission since the tranny has to be pulled either way. Since I'm likely going to have to make this decision soon I'd like to be well informed. Maybe I should just sell it to someone and buy her something else. Then again, I did put $4K into it - selling it now feels like throwing money away.

(And yes, I'm female and I really don't know enough to do more than change my own oil, spark plugs, light bulbs and air filter but I always do research and know what to ask. Surprised a guy when he suggested it was time to have my fuel injectors cleaned and I told him that was funny, I don't have a fuel injected engine - never went back there.)

Advice? Feedback? I don't think I can expect Honda corporate to do anything - after all it has lasted 200K miles. And I can't link the dealer to the piston ring issue tho everything was fine and I never lost a drop of oil until they replaced the oil pan seal so no recourse there. Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

The car on the official passing 'o the keys day.

 

Any codes?

 

I did not ask the mechanic for the codes and he didn't write them down on the paperwork. Next time I will.