EMDF

EDIT 2:
It appears I was a bit too paranoid, and thankfully there really wasn't an issue. The idle problem is apparently normal, and the other issue I was having has yet to come back after the two times I had it, so my guess is either pre-wear-in behavior or the fact that my tires are basically wet-unwieldy drag slicks due to having so little tread on them. Other than the idle changing with the speed, the transmission handles perfectly fine going from a dead stop to highway speeds over a short stretch of road, and hasn't given me any other problems in other conditions either. So I'm marking this as resolved. Thanks to everyone who helped!

EDIT:
For those of you that have too tight a schedule to read everything below, here's the issue: without touching the gas OR the brake, as my speed changes, so does my RPM. I'm not talking about idling too high or too low, I'm talking about an idle that corresponds to the vehicle's speed. My civic's tranny is an automatic, but it's acting like a manual. Tranny was rebuilt about a month ago, then this started happening. Any idea what's going on?

[details below]

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About a month ago, I had Aamco rebuild my transmission ('01 EX Coupe Automatic by the way). It was 100% blown so I couldn't go anywhere, and although I didn't have the tranny light on, they did. Anyways, before I took it in, my Civic would idle precisely at 1,000 RPM regardless of whether I was in park, drive, or even what speed I was going. After I got it back, I noticed a couple of issues that I'm convinced are related to the transmission rebuild, but I have no idea how.

First issue: the speed at which I am coasting determines the idle RPM. Case in point: if I'm traveling at 55 MPH down a steady downhill grade, with no foot on the brake OR the gas, the idle is at around 2,500 RPM. If I use the brakes only to slow down to 45, it goes down to 2,000 RPM. If I'm stopped at a red light, it bottoms at 650 RPM (no, I didn't miss a decimal point there, it's really less than 1K). Each of these scenarios is with my foot entirely off the gas pedal long enough for my Civic to reach idle RPM. If I slow down with my foot on the brakes and NOT on the gas, I can watch my RPM's going down in tandem with my speed. Just to note, the engine doesn't sound any different as the RPM's change, so I don't think it's a fuel economy issue.

Basically it seems like the torque converter is acting in reverse.

Second issue: For the first 500 miles, I took things super easy on the engine and tranny so it had time to "wear in". During this period, there were a few times where it seemed like the engine RPM's revved up high but I was accelerating as if the RPM's were low. Finally a few days ago, I reached the 500 mile mark, so I started treating it rough so these issues would manifest themselves (I'll explain why in a bit). A couple days ago, when I turned onto a side street, I floored it, and this issue popped up again. The best description I can come up with is that it's like Aamco installed a new gear that ranges from 0 MPH to 20 MPH and takes about five seconds to get there, and after that is what used to be first gear, ranging from 20 MPH to 55+ MPH and takes about two and a half seconds to get there. But other times I don't get the issue at all, and my "normal first gear" (i.e. pre-rebuild) ranges from 0 MPH to 55+ MPH and takes about three seconds to get there.

Quite frankly, I can't tell if this is an issue with the transmission slipping (but still accelerating, albeit slowly) until it shifts, or if it's shifting into the wrong gear, or what's going on.

Before I reached the 500 mile mark, I took it back to Aamco and explained the issue I was having (the first one, RPM-related). He wasn't sure what I wanted him to do with it (and how the hell should I know? I'm not a tranny mechanic ), but he made a note of what my problem was, remarking that torque converters shouldn't work in reverse and that "the engine and transmission are two self-contained units" and took a look at it. My parents picked it up, so unfortunately I didn't get to ask him what he looked for or at, but he must not have understood what I meant because he said he drove it twice with no issues, even though there hasn't been once where I've driven it since the rebuild that it hasn't had these issues. He even went as far as to say that often after a tranny rebuild, customers will say there's something wrong when really that's the way it's supposed to be. That's funny, I drove two cars with their original untouched trannys looking for that exact issue, and neither of them had it. But he did mention that if the issue got worse, he would take a look at it, hence why I'm treating it rough now that it's sufficiently worn in.



I guess what I'm asking is if anyone knows what can cause either [or both] of these two issues, and if there's any terminology I should be using to describe my issue. I know for a fact that something's different, that's not up for debate, but apparently the way I describe these problems is making Aamco think my issue is something different than it actually is. I know my way around cars, but not around transmissions, so if anyone could lead me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it!

Actually, I just had a thought: the tach is electronically controlled, isn't it? Is it possible that the speedo's electrical signal is interfering with the tach? Just a theory, and I've never actually heard of that happening, but could it?

Nosepicker

Is this a trick question?

Is it April fools 2012?

What's going on here? I vote funniest thread EVA!!!!

anibis

I'm not sure about the transmission issues but the idle is fine, that's how it's supposed to be. Mine will idle around 650 once the engine is warm, a tick higher if it's cold outside.

EMDF

Not to be a dick or anything, but where exactly was the humor? I had a tranny rebuilt (which, by the way, should have been free as it was under warranty, but the asswipe who did the job in the first place got into drugs and forced me to literally tow the car from his shop four months after it broke to Aamco who cost me three grand), and now it's giving me issues that weren't there before the tranny broke. I don't see what's funny about any of that.

I'm starting to think the tranny issues aren't actually there, and I'm too used to the v6 cars I drove in the four month absence of my Civic (see my response to Nosepicker). I had a three-gear shift from 0 to 55 today after flooring it, but it was evenly distributed and not as slow as I described it above. hmm...

As for the idle, I've been reading that 650 (even 600) is a normal RPM, and it runs smooth with no shaking or anything, so I'm not concerned with how low it is compared to before. But the way the idle/coasting RPM changes depending on what speed I'm going has me concerned. No other car I've ever driven had that issue, and I've driven four other cars with tachometers. I even watched our '02 Ford Explorer's tach on the same stretch of road while my car was at Aamco a second time, and although the idle was a tad high, it didn't fluctuate at all. Is that normal for Civics to do that?

EMDF

Hopefully this edit to the OP will get more responses. Still having this issue, and still just as clueless.


At least now I can better describe the issue to Aamco (auto acting like stick), so once I get my speakers in place (another thread I made, but that's irrelevant), I'm thinking of taking it to Aamco again, and hopefully they'll get what I'm talking about this time.

EDIT:
By the way, how do I edit the tags to this thread? I don't see how "crv", "figure", or "1000" are relevant, and "civicidlerpm" and "idle" are misleading.

Nosepicker

Sorry, I guess how it read/sounded made me laugh. I guess I don't pay that much attention to the idle when I'm off the gas.

Yes, our cars idle at a stop light anywhere from 500-800. 700 being ideal.

And of course the idle changes during different speeds or when you let off the gas pedal going down hill (not going to read 700 rpm). I've seen this with other car makes too.

And I'd have to agree with what the shop is saying...I don't see any problems. If it's idling erratically or the car is jerking than that's something different.

Yes, I have an AT ('98 LX) too.

Just enjoy your ride.

EMDF

No hard feelings I first started driving in a car without a tach, and got so used to looking at all the gauges that when I got a car with a tach, I checked that too. When I saw it at ~2K with no gas, I started paying closer attention to it. It's the second time that tranny has been rebuilt in the past 5K miles, so naturally I got concerned when I saw that. Admittedly it's a bit of a bizarre habit of mine, but it's worked well so far, so I won't change that

Good, so I'm running at ideal there.

Thanks! Good to know I'm not crazy, yet I am being overly paranoid

I do wonder if it's the torque converter that made the difference. It didn't do this after the first rebuild at around 103K, but less than 5K miles later it had to be rebuilt again, and if I recall correctly they replaced it this last time. Seems like whether an auto has this coasting RPM occurrence varies by car, which is good to know since the 18-year-old car I rarely drive was doing this exact thing recently.

So it looks like this may be resolved. I'll check the receipt I got from Aamco just to be sure, but if no one else feels differently about this and knows what they're talking about (i.e. not anyone that just got their assessment googling and reading the Wikipedia page on torque converters), I'll mark this thread as "resolved". Thanks a lot everyone!

EDIT:
I checked the receipt, and they did in fact rebuild the torque converter, so I added this to the first post: