This never used to happen... When I start the car on a cold engine and put the transmission in reverse there is a slight delay in response, and then it SLAMS into gear. The same goes for when I shift it into (D).

This behavior continues for the first few minutes of driving, and sometimes is accompanied by a couple of random downshifts into second gear. After the tranny warms up, everything is fine.

Now I warm my car up for 1 minute before driving, and the car is fine... it still downshifts (to warm the fluid?) within the first few minutes of driving, but other than that it is normal. If I don't warm it up, however, the problem is the same.

Does this mean that my tranny is F--d? I have about 104k miles on the car and have done some fairly aggressive driving with it, but it is meticulously maintainted. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

how cold is it there? 1 minute seems too short compared to how i warm mine up. I usually let the tach drop till 1k before i take off. Usually about 5+ minutes. But I dunno, that sounds normal to me though.... since it's cold.

 

Your transmission needs a rebuild, I have a 95 LS four door that does the same thing. When I changed my tranny fluid, some of it came out burnt. Try changing your fluid to help it out a little.

 

It's not that cold where I live... Maybe gets into the low 40s at night. Tranny rebuild, eh? That sucks. Will the problems just start getting worse? Also, how much did you pay to have that done? Would it be easier just to swap to manual or is that a pain in the ***? Thanks for the reply. Any other opinions are welcome.

By the way... I just changed the fluid and none of it came out burnt.


[Modified by 94integrals, 5:04 AM 1/22/2003]

 

Change your ATF. Since you can only drain about 1/2 of it at a time, do it about 3 times several hours/days apart, this way you'll replace around 88% of the fluid.

 

I have the same problem too with my Integra and my gf's Accord. Is this like a common problem with Honda auto tranny?

 

You guys need to read your service manuals. You need to keep the fluid changed. If you find a place that can suck all the oil out rather than three changes, you might be better off.

 

I wouldn't jump to the extreme and scare you with the fact that the tranny might be shot.. But I would suggest that you change your ATF..

Chances are that the ATF is so old that the additives aren't doing their job anymore.. And thus the tranny shifts hard up and down when cold..

The only way reason that I know of behind the hard shifts is oil pressure.. When it's cold and the additives are gone, the oil won't be able to flow as usual. That's because it's probably sitting in there and looking like penut butter.. Penut butter type ATF won't produce oil pressure..

Hope that helps a little bit.. Good Luck..