My 1997 Automatic Prelude has always been difficult to get into gear when cold. I'm not sure if difficult is the right word, I feel quite a bit of resistance, like its filled with syrup or something else sticky.

I'm wondering if this is normal or if maybe a previous owner put something funny in the transmission.

So just to be clear, when its cold out side, I get a lot more resistance when moving from Park to any other gear, it still drives fine. I'm thinking I need to drive the car and heat it up well then replace the fluid with Honda fluid. I'm plan to manual swap soon so I don't want to put to much effort into this, if its normal I wont bother but if this is something strange maybe ill clear it out.

 

I cant help you with your problem, but in case youre unaware, the auto 5th gens are known to have a multitude of problems and fail early. Might be an early warning sign. swap to manual and be done with it...i was in the same boat like 10 years ago.

 

Yep, I'm definitely aware of those issues. I have everything I need for the swap. Already got the clutch pedal and reinforcement complete. I'm just wondering if that is normal behavior for that trans, I have never really owned an auto so I'm not really familiar with it, its been this way since I purchased the car, I may want to sell or reuse this trans so I just want to identify any issues now. Trans still works great, well... as great as it always has. lol