Does anyone know the specific's of the SS Automatic problem in 5th gen? Honda's
communication on the problem described the symptoms and the warranty extension but didn't really say what was breaking. I've been wondering if a power increase will encourage the problem.

 

yes a power upgrade will hurt your auto tranny as far as the problem is hard to point out as for me the first time it happen it was something to do with the clutches and didn't want to shift on reverse but the second time was tranny failure it blew up, every component inside the tranny burn up going at about 80 on the interstate.

 

80 on the freeway! That must have been exciting. How many miles on it when it happened? Was Honda agreeable in fixing it? More important, have they fixed the problem in the replacement? Best definition of insanity I ever heard is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the result to change. If the problem is fixed in the replacement maybe I should blow mine before I make any more power.

 

if you're buying a 5th gen ss. make sure you get 98 or higher. cause 97 they don't give extended warranty. my tranny went out at around 78k. i think i was the reason... i got angry one day after class.. and shifted down to first, thinking it was 2nd...banged it to fuel cut off.. next day, slippage. But.. i did "hear" something wrong with it about 2 months prior. I don't know if it happened to others, but look for a "weed whacker" sound at idle. It'll sound like a zzzz sound.. not the regular engine idle.

if you do have extended warranty, i think its 100k that honda set it to. BLOW it up! ahaha (if you're crazy enuf) then make them replace new one. Then you got awhile till this tranny blows up, actually if it breaks 3 times, then you'll get new car, lemon law.. ( i think that's how it works.. )

i forget the main reason it breaks, i remmeber reading that one of the parts in the tranny was really cheap, and it was so easy to by pas,s but honda was too stingy to fork out the "extra" money to make it stronger.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by azndng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> "weed whacker" sound at idle.
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that was worth reading this thread.

 

The thing that's so annoying is that Honda undoubtably knows what the problem is and is unwilling to let customers in on it for fear of requests to fix it before it fails. They're probably right about that but it sure is a pain driving around wondering if and when it's going to break. Plus you hate to make any power modifications for fear of giving them an excuse to void the 100,000 mile warranty.

 

um.... the extended warranty for the TRANSMISSION-only is for 2000 and up Automatic ludes.

I am on my 2nd transmission. the first one went out on me at 12000. i bought it new. the 2nd one seems to be doing good. although, it's probably from me taking better care of it. i do drive it hard and auto-x very frequently.

I "take care" of my weak tranny by getting the fluid change every 20k to 20.5k miles or so and making sure stopping COMPLETELY before shifting from D-R or R-D.

my recommendation is that you avoid automatic 4cylinder cars period. especially preludes.

 

Thanks for the response. I have an '01 with about 25,000 on it. I bought it in '02 when there were only 4 left in town, all automatics.

Are you useing Honda Fluid? I assume there was no mention as to wether your warranted transmission had the weakness corrected. Or did they just repair your original?

 

yea i use honda atf.

my transmission was fully REPLACED with a new one. mr. gerhard is the MAN on the SS trannys. he should be still around.

 

oh and my original post seems a lil misleading. so, here's a better explanation:

the lude was purchased new. 1st tranny went out at 12k. it was replaced under the warranty to a new unit. i am at 63k now and no prob so far. and this is w/ 2 full-seasons of auto-x'ing.

change the fluid often(every 20-30k) and dont do stupid stuff and you should be ok. gotta deal with wut we have right?

 

Good advice. I think I'll start changeing fluid as you suggest. I've heard the condition of the fluid can give an advance warning of problems. Beyond that I guess I've got 75,000 more miles of coverage!

 

make sure your dealer (if purchased at honda) knows that you have a warranty on the car and if you don't have a statement from them, signed by both, that they better have one, it is a good way to let them know that they are at fault if anything goes wrong.

Good luck.

I had mine replaced on my 97 for free, after the engine light came off, due to it, and the car still had an emissions warranty on it, so whatever may that light go off, gets replaced.

Later.