gearbox

iTrader: (95)

very true, altho ive grown so used to autos i doubt i could drive a manual anymore, let alone justify all the money for a swap that most shops would find a way to mess up. i would just go with a different car or get a scooter for around town and rent a car for long distance. its just too expensive to maintain. altho this civic has certainly taught me more about cars than i ever wouldve imagined.

as for the auto trans, switch all the fluid out with valvoline maxlife and change it yearly. hope for the best and it will prolly hang on for a while. may want to change your drain bolt too if its the original cause i had the magnet part fall off the bolt before. luckily didnt get sucked in and i was able to fish it out (weak magnet so it was easy to pull out yet not weak enough to get sucked in).

bryan.0831

My auto has 157,000, I have an '05 though. I'm keeping it till it dies, too.

SuperMan2012

I disagree. Most failed around 80,000 to 120,000 miles, although there are that failed before 30,000 miles, but those are uncommon.

I don't think it's irrational for someone who want to sell his 2003 Civic when it's still perfectly fine, but reaching the 100,000 miles due to the probability that the transmission will fail.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

im calling you out. provide your legitimate source.


if the transmission was REALLY that big of a problem, honda would had a massive recall. just because 500ish transmissions were complained/reported doesnt mean anything. its a small % compared to the the MILLIONS of civics sold.

the number of "transmission failres" on the civic is so minuscule that honda doesnt even bother.

now, i said all the above with one exception. the ONLY problem honda ever acknowledge was the transmission in the 2001 (as far as 7th gens go)...and they offered an extended warranty on it. (not even a recall)

you heard of the 6th gen accord? it was something like one our of every 20 v6 had a transmission failure...it was so bad that honda extended their recall of the 98-01. 1 in 20 is a FLIPPING CRAP TON of accords...

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

do you ask... "why do we see so many damn complaints about it?"

because when people have problems, they go on forums and go on line to b!tch about it. thats why you always see someone posting a question about a problem (and thats EXACTLY why FORUMS are for).

but when you compare that sample size (the civics with trans failure), the actual number is very insignificant compared to the whole.... and honda knows this. not everyone takes care of their car and not all cars are going to last. many times its the user error that causes the error and they dont even know about it.

ill give you an example. i know of a friend whos has a 7th gen civic as well. it absolutely does not take care of his civic. i did his oil change for him last time (because it was an emergency, he needed asap before a long trip)

when i did it, i saw his oil light was on, and i asked him how long as it been? he said he's been driving with it on and off for A MONTH (YES A ******* MONTH).

So when i drained his old oil out, i was able to extract HALF A QUART. HALF A ******* QUART. i was so APPALLED.

how he has 188k on his car 03, i have no fking idea.

fsckewe

Then I don't understand what your question is.

The only real statistical data available to us is carcomplaints.com and educated opinions of some on forums like this one. So either you don't want to believe that or you just simply aren't listening.

It's not a huge problem, but yes some people do experience an issue. But guess what.... it is YOUR problem. If you don't want to follow any of the options that have been described, call Honda. Their hotline number has been posted in several threads. If that doesn't suit your fancy and you feel you are truely been wronged by this "defective" part,.... sue them.

This thread has run its course as you seem to not want to listen what anyone says. And ****, I'm on your side arguing the same point.

Civicnoobie

I sold my 01 auto trans with 145k km a couple days ago for $200. Was asking $300 but the guy drove 3hrs to get it. Finally got rid of it from my closet. Was sitting there for a year. I just wanted to get it out of my closet!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

sleepy, honda did finally recall almost every auto trans in their entire lineup in 2004, but for some reason the civic was left out. every other make and model except civic. if honda had to recall 600,000 vehicles (later expanded to over a million) from 6 different honda models, that sounds like a huge deal to me. its curious why the civic was the ONLY model left out when im sure they knew the civic trans was just as bad. maybe the cars were still too new so they got away with saying well there were not many complaints for a 2 yr old car to justify a recall. dont kid yourselves guys. honda has taken a huge dump in quality and continues to go downhill. 20 yrs ago trans problems on a honda were unheard of.

http://www.hondaproblems.com/problem...-failure.shtml

and few hundred more complaints

http://www.aboutautomobile.com/Compl...c+Transmission

Gugle

Not to get into the middle of it, but isn't it the number 2 clutch pack that normally burns out? (forgive my rough car lingo if number 2 clutch pack is not a correct part)

My auto went out 4,000 miles into my owning it at 108,000. It's the first auto i've ever owned heh, go figure. I've talked to Mr Murdich at TCI and they don't even make the kits anymore lol, going to try to get a hold of red eagle.

Aren't automatics generally speaking set up for more economical driving in hondas, versus racing from redlight to redlight? I want to do a manual swap, but time, money, tools, and a gravel driveway are all major hampers in the plan.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

yup yup. i was reading that too, but it indicated it expanded its recalls up to 2004 for these models tho, which the civic isnt apart of (unless my small *** asian eyes are deceiving me?) :

"The models covered were the 2002-4 Odyssey; the 2003–4 Pilot; the 2001–2 Acura MDX; the 2003–4 Accord V-6; the 2000–4 Acura 3.2 TL and the 2001–3 Acura 3.2 CL"

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the kits are still out there, last i checked you could still order it here

http://www.tciauto.com/tc/civic-mast...kit-01-02.html

MindBomber

Let's not make reference the number of fails on carcomplaints without context, and surely, at least in my area, seventh gen civics are one of the most common cars on the road. BMW SMG failure rates are likely even higher, and many other automatic transmission failure rates relatively comparable, just not as many sold.

My transmission is just fine at 176k kilometers, Shift-Es lasted till 300k+ plus, and neither of ours had much maintenance early in the life cycle. Automatic transmissions are by virtue not as reliable as automatics, so if reliability is a huge issue, by a standard.

I'm ****ing sick of all the conjecture in these transmission threads.

fsckewe

But there is value in conjecture. Asking if anyone else is experiencing the same troubles as oneself has a place here. That's the basis of forums such as this. Making baseless assertions is another thing.

Are the "statistics" from carcomplaints.com rock solid? Of course not, no one is making that claim. But it's something for your brain to chew on. There have been problems with some of the 7th gen auto trans. There are people who have torn apart these transmissions and found the failures and made their assessment on this forum. This makes one conjecture if it is a consistent problem. To assume this is a widespread problem that Honda is covering up is a stretch, I agree. But it doesn't mean it's nothing.

But I digress. Making wild claims without a basis is worthless. It seems some people are looking for a smoking gun or someone to blame. I am here because I have a part that is failing on my vehicle and I am looking for insight. I too am interested if others are having similar problems. And sometimes you have to wade through the **** to get to a good answer.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

many of those comments i read made reference to their shops telling them "yeah we did ten 7th gen auto trans this month alone" so going off that you can easily conjure up thousands of other blown trans from people who do not know where or how to post their experience on forums or other sites. i myself have talked to at least 5 mechanics just in the reno area and every single one has told me, oh yeah, we know all about those cars thats what keeps us in business followed by some laughing. honda's reason for not making it a recall was "transmission is not a safety issue" so there you go. im not that clueless to go around saying honda is the best and i will never buy anything else, esp after reading all those complaints and talking with mechanics and honda dealers about it. you have to think logically. even if my car makes 200k which is doubtful, i would still never buy another honda. getting "lucky" doesnt mean the problem never existed considering honda finally admitted to it after the warranty ran out by posting a tsb about defective secondary clutch disk.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

Can't we all get along? I lOve everyone here

Ok I lied. Almost everyone.

SuperMan2012

How many miles does your 2002 Civic have? When do you plan to sell it?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

it started slipping at 50k miles, and right now it has 102k and the slipping is no worse than when it started. planning to drive til it dies. im not a typical owner tho that just does a fluid change every 3 yrs. i was changing the fluid yearly starting at 18k miles, and for a while i also used an external filter and LC20 additive. last summer i finally switched to valvoline maxlife atf and i wish i wouldve done it sooner. it runs so much smoother and shifts better than it even did with the old honda z1 fluid. slipping is not as bad either because the new fluid warms up faster. but i know its only a matter of time before it gives up. no amount of careful maintenance and driving can win against defective parts and bad design.

oh and to answer your original question, yes the 01-05 all have the same defects. after reading more of the 03-05 complaints, while there are not nearly as many of them, they still say the same thing about how it broke. that leads me to believe they never fixed the original problems. worn secondary clutch disc, bad internal filter, poor torque converters, etc. some replies pointed to possible differences between japan vs usa trans, but there was no actual conclusion as to which is better built. the overall message was that you are no better off swapping in a 2005 trans, other than it having few miles. but even that is no guarantee because some 2005 trans failed at only 15k miles. this is why i originally said i would never think about a rebuild unless i could find a reliable mechanic that can use the tci racing kit. a regular rebuilt trans will never work the same and usually will not even last a year before you are back at the shop. usually 2-6 weeks is the average lifespan after a rebuild and ive had lots of experience with this on other cars. i will never make that mistake again. its not worth spending thousands just to have a car that you have to worry whether it will die each day. and then keep taking it back for warranty work every month.

POQbum

I drive an '05 LX automatic and have the same issue.

If I mess around with slowing moving around D2, D3 and back to D then it seems to have less issues- idk that might just all be in my head.

Still definitely tranny problems but I've been driving it for 50k+ miles after I found out it'll cost 3k to fix it. Once it dies, my car will be sold and I'll get a new car. Not worth the replacement.

Artificial

iTrader: (1)

Seriously, just quit trolling.

Civicnoobie

Does it slip when hot or just cold? What gears?

Lowlife9 has same as me, 200rpm flare going from 3-4 when hot, between 2000 and 2800rpms. Anything under or over RPMS and it doesnt flare.

So I just keep it in D3 for the most part and manual shift to D (to get to 4th) and it doesnt flare.

Cmac84

Just sayin; I'm @ 389,000km on my original auto-trans in an 01 Civic cpe LX

Who's gone past 500? 400?

Did I luck out or what here? lol.

mikey1

im at 250,000km on original tranny, shifts like new

a relative is at 240,000km on their original tranny and fluid!

i wonder if it has anything to do with the way the car is driven?.....my car rarely ever see's rpms over 3,000, just sayin

Cmac84

I think you're right, I don't take off the line racing to the next red or anything stupid. I just commute to work and pick up the kids from the ex. So really, I mean with regular oil changes and a mechanic friend that gives me lots of help on small issues I've never had anything major to worry about, other than re-sale. But even then, when it comes time for a new car I'll just buy a used tranny or whatever and convert this into a track/hobby car and have fun stripping it down like I did my Fierro .

botakcivic

Would you recommend Valvoline Maxlife ATF over Honda Genuine ATF-DW-1?
Appreciate if you would comment.

Thx.

Cmac84

In the end you either are a victim of the problem or not. So, my thoughts are that according to his post that I would go with Valvoline Maxlife if it worked for him and slippage. However at 400,000km, still running like new in -37c weather I think its a per-build basis or something...

I've always just brought it to Honda for Trans/Oil changes now that I live in an apartment building.

fraziercorey

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nsrhonda89

If you have 400k on your car you should stick with honda DW1 fluid. In canada the bottle says fully synthetic.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=2144708

According to his video it seems some of the problems is related to the tranmission main pressure regulator valve getting stuck or the 3 bolt was over torque.

Cmac84

But do you think that every build had the issue is what I'm wondering. Because I mean, I should of had mine give out by now or at least act funny cause I drove like an ******* here and there (but mostly drive like a grown up since having had a kid)

I took a picture today idling smooth as brand new in (like I said -37 with windchill), I rarely hit over 3k rpm, I do hit 5 in the hills when trying to pick up speed but I live in the valley so what can I do when driving along the Ottawa river.

mikey1

no two builds are EVER the exact same.....doesn't matter how good quality control is, there will always be slight differences and variations

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

read this too (don't remember details, i have manual trans :P):

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...nsmission.html