My sister has a 91 accord ex sedan with 133k miles on it and it shifts pretty hard (auto trann). I searched the forum and read evetything about auto tranny's i could. I just changed the oil and it helped a little but the fluid wasn't very black that came out. I noticed there was a LOT of small fine metal dust/sludge on the magnetic drain plug....this is a bad thing i think. Anything else i should do to make it shift better? It's not horrible, but it's noticably different than any other cars. thanks for your help

 

tell her to ease up on the throttle between shifts. Let the transmission 'shift' more easily thru its gears with less engine load transfering. I'm sure she would have no idea what your talking about though...

 

plus, with the 4th gen accords, i'm pretty sure its with most, the tranny shifts hard anywayz. everyone i've talked to says their accord shift hard, and even mine does.

 

YUP my 93 accord is the same. I usally can tell when it's going to shift gears and i just let off the gas a little.

******hey just wondering.... in the winter when it's cold out my tranny won't shift into 5th gear on the freeway. this is only when the motor/tranny is cold. After like 3miles on the road(or when the car fully warms up) it shifts to 5th just fine.
****this is only when the car starts up on winter morinigs.

 

Yeah, I read on the 4th gens there was a silent recall, and if ou took it to the dealer, they put in some syn additive to smooth it out. I changed mine with Mobil 1 ATF, and it shifts a lot smoother, especially 1st to 2nd.

 

charlie, the auto's only have 4 gears so i don't know what to tell ya.

SP, what tranny fluid did you use? i went to change it and there were so many i was confused, dextron I, dextron II, dextron III, mercon and all that junk so i just ran away from autozone and went to honda and bought the expensive ATF that i couldn't go wrong with.

This is a high miles car so let me know what you are using. I'll try to use it. I figured it would jsut be rough, but i didn't know how bad. I don't drive an auto because i hate them, but i figured it should be smoother than that.

 

It's not a defect or flaw. That is just the way they were made. I had an almost new fourth gen (90 EX) and I asked the guy if that was normal. His response was yes and then he showed me a review in consumer reports and the ONLY complaint was "the abrupt shift of the automatic transmission". I would say it's nothing to worry about. I noticed it but didn't mind it.

Edit: cyrixvsp2 you have mail.


[Modified by Stew Pidasso, 1:09 PM 12/20/2002]

 

I use the Mobil 1 Mercon/Dexron available at most auto parts stores.