About a month ago I purchased a 2002 Honda Civic from a used car lot for dirt cheap. Upon purchase, I was informed that it had a new transmission, but have no proof of that whatsoever. It does feel newer than the mileage suggests, as I near 193,000 miles.

The transmission, from what I have noticed, doesn't have any major problems.

Although, I do have a problem that I'm unsure if it ties to the transmission.

About 50% of the time that I go to put my car into park, the P light comes on as usual, and I try to remove my key, but am unable to. When I turn the car back on, the lights that show are Park AND Drive at the same time, never any others. This stays on for about 3 seconds before a click sound happens and then the Park light is left on, but the key is still not removable, and the lights return when turning it on again. It is after that I put the car into drive without the motor running and let off the brake for a moment that I can put it back in Park and take the key out... most of the time (sometimes it takes me a few tries at this before it works).

I've seen similar posts with different lights, like Park and Neutral, but none of those have true answers as to what's wrong. I did bring this issue up at a mechanic but they said it was probably because of the new transmission and shrugged it off as if it wasn't a big deal.

 

Issue may be due to a faulty transmission range switch (located on the transmission). Transmission range switch can be tested.

 

Or perhaps that the donor transmission was not the same version as the original.