hi, my name is Craig and i'm new to this forum. I'm the proud owner of a 1988 civic dx 2-door hatch with 45k on the odometer....no missprint.
heres my question: my civic is an automatic, and i'm having poblems with the transmition "hunting" between 3rd and 4th gear (is there an overdrive?) at cruising speeds. i notice it in town and its very obvious on the interstate, and its not consistent, it happens about 75% of the time.
i have flushed the trans and filled with hondamatic, and it only made the problem smoother!! i have been told from a honda tech it could be the throttle sensor which would require replacing the whole throttle body!! is this true, or can the sensor be replaced by itself?
the car is like bran new, so i'm willing to take it to a dealer to get it done if i have to. is this a common problem? can the local garage handle it or should i stick with the dealer? all help is greatly appreciated....

 

congrats on being the owner of such a wonderufl car with great mileage and condition
usually a auto tranny goes bad with age with the way the lil clutches work inside and shifts worn out... maybe a speed synchro its going bad... if it jerks on shifting, ui going to have problems.. have it checked or get another tranny.... change to manual if its good with u.. if the car hesitates u might have a problem on engine...
but if no check engine light or codes are up then is up to the tranny...
a TPS (trotle position sensor) may require a new TB, unless u are good at changing that sensor... IMO its cheaper and easier to get a used TB from another crx/civic.. they are everywherre.... since the car its old i dont think dealer might like it... try local perf shops or good mechanics.. and if they seem not to know anything then ur last resource its the dealer...
good luck


[Modified by JDM EF9, 11:38 PM 2/2/2003]

 

my lx has the same problem, unless i have the throttle just right it "clunks" into gear. I'd bet a penny its either the 3rd gear accumulator, shift control solenoid valve A gone bad, or the control unit system has gone bad. But thats just what my manual says, if thats the case, go to the dealer

 

The auto trannys have locking torque converters so it kind of feels like an overdrive but in reality its just the torque converter locking. Do you notice if the rpms drop just slightly when it does this? I know that in my auto CRX that after the torque converter locks my rpms drop ever so slightly nothing major but noticable its only like 2-300 rpms at the most.....Oh and it does kind of feel like its going into overdrive kind of.


[Modified by Vinceg99, 3:54 AM 2/3/2003]

 

yeah, it drops about 300 to 500, but then goes back up and back and forth like it cant decide what to do....i wouldnt mind if it did it once, but this is really anoying, especially on the highway, the rpms go up and down constantly and the car jerks slightly each time....this sucks!!

 

welcome to h-t...i say switch to a manual!

 

Hmmm? Well considering the automatics have electronics and vacuum lines basically helping it shift I would definately look in that direction something isnt letting the torque converter stay locked into pace it sounds like. You have any tranny shops by you that will test it out for free? They could test drive it and look it over and they may have even dealt with the problem before so they may be able to tell you what the problem is and then you could decide from there if you want to try it yourself or take it to a shop to have it fixed.

 

i thought about that, but who is willing to do it? and how much money?.....besides, its got only 45k miles, and i would feel silly replacing the trans already. my wife drives it mostly (i'm a miata nut) and i think she prefers the auto, and so do i after jamming gears all week in a miata......automatic can be a nice break sometimes, so i guess i'm willing to do whatever it takes....any more suggestions?

 

Well like I said by me atleast there are plenty of tranny shops that does the road test for free.

 

thanks, vince. good idea....ill check some local trans shops. i dont know why i keep thinking its got somthing to do with the throttle sensor.....could be the trans is screwed up, novel idea, huh?

 

Here's another wild goose chase if you'd like...

The ECU won't lock up the torque converter unless the engine is at the proper temperature. Might be yours is at the border line. Either your t-stat is stuck open or the associated temp sensor is flakey. Simple enough to check out.