My 2002 Accord coupe J30a1 with the 4at is having some serious issues, and I'm wondering what to do. For the last few months, on about half of the drives from cold a minute or so into the drive TCS will come on and D4 will flash - shift malfunction, and I lose 1st and 4th until I restart and they come back - I hear the trans is likely going out.

She's at 166k miles and was babied by the previous owners, oil changes every 3k miles and the whole 9 yards. Since then though, many issues have cropped up, most of which being the transmission, along with a power steering fluid leak and a misfire that was fixed with new NGK Iridiums.

I've had it for a few years now and it's my first car, I get the distinct feeling I would regret it if I sold it because I love the car. Even though it's big and heavy and plows a lot it really tries, the V6 sings and even with the acres of body roll I've learned it well enough to keep up with ZZW30s in my local driving group, nobody expects a big touring coupe to drive like that.

I have some possibilities for future plans, swapping in a 6 speed (cost, finding parts?), having a shop swap in a 6 speed (cost?), or just putting another slushbox 4at in to break again.
Or maybe an engine swap would be a better idea, I'm open to any suggestions to keep it driving, 4 cylinder or whatever.
If all goes well, then handling mods would be next.
I'm mechanically knowledgeable as I have gotten a Fiero running and driving again, but long and difficult works can get discouraging.

It's my daily at the moment, and I'm wondering if it would be worth it to put that much money into it with the 6-speed swap, especially done by a shop, (though I do greatly prefer driving manuals) and have me out of a car for a while, or to go with an engine swap or other alternative. I work a delivery job that's pretty harsh on cars, so I plan on temporarily getting another car that can take it and storing and repairing the Accord in the meantime. I'm looking for other opinions as to what would be good to do, and any responses here would be greatly appreciated.

 

You've pretty much listed your options. Either sell it, replace the automatic, or 6 speed swap. I have quite a bit of experience with these Accords(both V6 and I4) and their troublesome transmissions. It's been my understanding for a few years now that 6 speed swapping is no longer viable. Sourcing all the mechanical parts is hard enough since they come from a fairly rare chassis/drivetrain combo but the guy that made the module that would allow the ECU to work without the automatic transmission attached(required) hasn't made them for quite some time. So technically you could 6 speed swap it but it's unlikely you would get it to run. I also personally would never trust a shop with a complex job like that, especially if they were unfamiliar with the platform.

For the I4s I generally just pick up a low mileage JDM replacement transmission and it's good to go. For the V6s, when the transmissions fail(and they ALWAYS do), I opt for remanufactured units. There was a company I was using that offered remans which fixed the failure points in the transmissions and I've never seen any issues with them. It's been quite a few years since I've done one though so I can't remember their name. You might do some searching for it if that's an option that interests you. Either way I would go for a reman if you replace the automatic. If you pick up a low mileage unit from a JDM supplier/junkyard/whatever it will just fail again.

Since it sounds like you don't have the means to do any of the work yourself engine swaps should be considered off the table. Given you have a V6 chassis there would be a lot of custom fabrication and $$$$ involved in swapping in a more reliable platform.

The most economical option would probably be to sell/scrap it and find a 5 speed I4 model if you enjoy the chassis. I get what it's like to be attached to a specific vehicle though. I still have my first Accord. Started as a bone stock automatic LX, now it's a crazy big turbo thing.