Rep Power: 0

These are the moments I wish I was a man. No laughing, ok?

I have a ’97 Civic LX (1.6L v4). Less than a week ago my mechanic just switched out the tranny with a salvaged one. When the car shifts from 1st to 2nd gear, there is a soft thump...just like someone hit the tow hitch with a 5 pound rubber mallet. The other gears are fine. I can live with this, unless it means that the "new" tranny is on its last legs. Any thoughts?

 
Rep Power: 253

Did you fill it up all the way with tranny fluid?

 
Rep Power: 0

Sorry I wasn't clear.. I did not do the job myself. This is my mechanic that did it.

 
Rep Power: 308

You can check the fluid level easily.

While you are doing it take note of the fluids condition (it should be a light color and not dark)

The other thing you may try if the level is o.k. is to have an ATF service, most likely a drain and re-fill with only Honda brand fluid.

 
Rep Power: 811

eh, the problem is alot of shops dont know what theyre doing. we used to have an old ford taurus with 100k miles (for that car, its pretty much dead). the trans went out, and we went to a pretty well known shop with 2 yr trans warranty, well we kept having all sorts of problems with it clunking between 1-2 gear shift. they said its normal and better to have it shift hard instead of smooth, so we kept driving. few months later, it totally died. they rebuilt it, few months later it died again. on the third trans, we finally gave up and quickly sold the car for almost nothing. did the mech use a honda trans on yours from a low mileage salvage car? or rebuild your old one?

 
Rep Power: 0

It was a Honda transmission. I am going to assume (should I??) that he put in new fresh fluid!! This less than a week ago.

 
Rep Power: 253

I would take it back and tell them somethings wrong if it has only been two weeks.

 
Rep Power: 811

hopefully the mech used honda ATF in the honda trans otherwise anything else will cause hard shifting. im betting 99% they do not use honda fluid unless youre at the dealership. thats prolly the issue. our 92 accord family car had some gay aftermarket ATF from the store and shifted like it was about to fail. i did a drain and refill with honda fluid and its been shifting smooth for a year now.