On Monday, March 6, I purchased a 2002 4 door automatic Civic. Two days later, it would occasionally not go when I push the gas after I've been sitting at a red light. Both times, I turned the car off for 2-3 minutes and it drove fine. On the third day, it happened two more times and a couple of times, the rpms would go up to 6 when trying to go into the next gear. On Friday, the only problem it had was the high rmp thing but it was only once. On Friday night, I made a 126 mile round trip with NO problems at all. On Saturday, however, it pretty much gave up. It would not go after any type of stop. Cutting it off for a few min would get it moving but never more than 10 mph. I had it towed to a shop and the next day, it drove fine for 8 miles then, once again, after stopping at a red light, it would not go over 10 mph and had to be towed.

I probably could have made a long story short by saying I bought a car in Monday and found out it needs a transmission 5 days later. Obviously, since I just bought a $2000 car, I don't have $1900 laying around to pay the estimated replacement cost.

FINALLY, here is my question. What years can a 2002 Civic trans be swapped with? Our local PullAPart has a few 2001s, a 2003 and a 2005. I was told there are certain letters that should be on the replacement trans that match with the original (i think that's what the guy told me). If that's the case, how do I find out what those letters are?

Obviously, I don't know much about cars. If anyone is kind enough to respond, please keep that in mind.

Thank you, from a stressed out single mom who waited 2 years to buy a car, only to have it breakdown after 5 days.

 

Well you could have a seeping pan gasket or leaking cooler lines. Have you checked the trans fluid yet?

 

Yikes, I hate these stories about unscrupulous sellers passing off bad cars to unsuspecting buyers.

The trans will have a barcode sticker on it, the sticker will say BMXA or SLXA on it



like so.

In reality, any trans from 2001 to 2005 will fit though. BMXA and SLXA share many components. If you are taking a gamble with a junkyard trans, I'd get the nicest looking one, the cleanest one. I bought an Odyssey with a bad trans, the guy before me already replaced the trans just months prior with a used trans (and IT was dead too, as it turns out LOL). So I rebuilt it and am enjoying much driving pleasure on the cheap