We (my daughter and I) just bought a 1999 Accord 3.0L V6. We test drove the car, I drove it to the shop because it needed a wheel bearing (we knew in advance). After replacing the spindle with wheel bearing the shifting started acting odd.
Runs ok when cold but when hot ill not shift properly and 'D4' light started flashing and developed a P1768 code.
Did a lot of web searching found out the clutch-pressure-control-solenoid a and b was not functioning. Bought one installed it car ran great for two days.
Now back to doing same symptoms. If in 'second' will run fine but when shifting to third motor just revs. Hard jump when going from 'Park' to 'Reverse' or 'Second' (D2). When the trans does go 'Third" when cold, no slipping, will even go to 'D4'.
Now my only thought here is maybe they used generic ATF. Any ideas?

 

I adjusted the throttle cable seems to have eased the problem a lot, doesn't jump to second on letting up on throttle to giving gas and going back to third with the slightest throttle pressure. Car drive like normal for about ten miles then takes longer to go to 'D3', after about another mile or so wont shift to third unless you apply more gas. While in each gear no noticeable slipping is notices until normal shifting goes. I should add when trans is working normally it shifts to 'D4'. Has new Honda trans fluid. Have changed the 'Liner Solenoid block' and 'B' and 'C', adjusted throttle cable, changed 'Trans Speed Sensor'. If I stop for about 10 minutes, drives normal for about 7-8miles. No codes come up now. Any ideas?

 

How does your fluid level look? It could have too much.

Did they add any fluid for some reason ?

 

Fluid was a bit darker not really bad. I changed the trans fluid because I read on a blog to use only Honda trans fluid so I changed it not knowing what was in there.. The level was good when I changed it, and now at the right level. Something I should have posted was it had a motor exchange before we bought the car, approximately 500 mile previous. I think that is why the throttle cable adjustment was wrong. I really believe the problem is in the shifting mechanism, trans works well when starting and for 10 miles just doesn't shift correctly.

 

How many miles did you drive the vehicle before it exhibited this issue ? It's possible that you have the fluid level incorrect. It's possible there is to much fluid. Auto trannies are really finicky with fluid level.

 

First thing I did when we bought the car was check fluids. Then after problems started showing up as in a previous reply I changed the trans fluid to Honda trans fluid because I wasn't sure what was in there. What is starting to both me most now after finding the throttle cable not properly adjusted (part of the original problem) is what else was not connected properly.
I am rather astute to auto and motorcycle repair with over 35 years experience and owned my own motorcycle service/repair shop for 27 years did all the service work myself.. Not bragging just the facts to justify level of expertise. Just not real familiar to automatic transmissions. But from all the symptom and being fine to drive 10 miles I just feel it is in the shift mechanism somewhere.

 

How many miles did you drive the vehicle before it exhibited this issue ?

 

Starts at about 10 miles...then cool off for 10-15 minutes fine again for another 10 miles.

 

Let me try this again, this time from a different angle. When you purchased the car, how many miles did you drive before it exhibited the issue ?

 

Sorry, miss read, approximately 50 miles....

 

Recheck their work. If the engine is not working correctly it will affect how/when the transmission shifts.
Look for vacuum leaks, loose/damaged wiring.
Verify all the ground/bonding cables are installed clean and tight.
Verify the battery is fully chareged/holding a charge.
Verify the battery connections are clean and tight.
If the engine bangs when shifting or generally moves around a lot, the mounts may be bad.
Beg/Borrow/Steal an OBDII code reader and check for any codes, not all codes on the 98-02 models set a CEL/D4 lamp.

 

Thanks Mike, I went over a lot of those items but will check further. Originally there were a couple of codes, P0730 and P1768. After I changed the Linear Solenoids and cleared the codes, there have not been any code reoccurrences. I'll spend today checking vacuum lines, wiring and connectors.