Nycmedic

Hi,
I have a 1998 civic lx auto. I recently purchased. When I test drove it, it was during rush hr so couldn't get into 4th gear. On the way home after purchased, it felt like it slipped into 4th gear, rpm took a quick jump before shifting. I youtubed this and someone had same exact problem, turned out to be the shift solenoid. But, I checked my tranny fluid and it basically looked like motor oil, so I did a quick drain and refilled with Honda atf. As I was changing oil I noticed gunk on the plug, did quick research and found out it was actually shavings but they say it's normal. I didnt see any in drain pan.

I took it on a drive after playing around in all gears. Drove for about 40min. Everything seemed fine, was shifting no problem. Let the car sit and drove couple days later and felt slipping in 2-3 now. (Was 3-4 prior to fluid change).
After driving for another 40min I noticed its not consistent gears that slip. It's off/on. Never slips 1-2. Sometime slips 2-3 and barely slips 3-4 now.

Checked tranny fluid and it's still brown. Now I've read up and most ppl say do the 3 drains but my question is can the fluid be causing this problem ? Should I change my shift solenoid ? I have no check engine lights, it actually just passed inspection.

Any help is appreciated thanks.

mac25

In regards to the shift solenoid, at this point your guess is as good as mine. You could replace the solenoid and hope for the best, but, considering the fluid condition, there may be internal damage or other issues.

That being said If it were my car I would try to find a cheap used one form a scrap yard to test with. Try looking for a car with body damage, because that indicates that it was sent to scrap for body issues and not transmission failure.

If you want to buy a new solenoid online the part number is 28200P4R003.

Nycmedic

Thanks.