Rep Power: 243

Here's my story.

I bought his thing new on 2004 and used this baby as a delivery vehicle for 4 years. Now, I did not work as a driver anymore so I use it became a family vehicle once again.

Ok, that was a history. Last three year (2007), very cold winter night in Chicago, shifted the trans from N to D. There was loud engaging... car couldn't move (I stepped on the gas pedal also) . I shifted back to Neutral, then D again, it still couldn't move I shifted to Reverse, it could move backward so I changed to D again and it could move forward.

On 2008, very cold morning in the winter in Michigan Yep, it happened again. I used the same trick (R and D). It could move.

On the same year, on the highway to work, all of sudden, speedometer changed from 70 mph to 80 mph and back to 70 mph in about 2 sec. I do not have the RPM gauge so I couldn't tell if the wheel spin faster because of losing grip? I remembered that I was at the curve and I tried to do a grip racing. err not exactly like that but same idea. I did not recognize that the engine were revving up higher or anything so I am not sure what happened. Before this incident, I change Z1 to Amsoil ATF so was it slipped?

After that incident, I changed Amsoil ATF to Valvoline Maxlife ATF using 3X drain n fill. Then, I did not see 70 mph -> 80 mph in 2 sec after.

Last year 2009 and today. The day before was the coldest day of the year. My car was outside all day so today when I shifted to D it refused to go forward so I have to do R and then D again to get it going.

Is this the starting point to become bad transmission? I plan to use this car for another 5 years. I hope it lasts.

 
Rep Power: 811

not exactly. this is a common problem in many cars where the fluid is just too cold and the trans is unable to shift gears. doesnt mean its broken, cause when the fluid warms up or summer comes, it will be normal again. eventually it may become a problem, but i recommend just letting the fluid warm up a few mins before putting it in gear on cold days.

 
Rep Power: 0

Well 103k on original trans when I thought I would have been lucky to get 48k tops out of it. On cold mornings I get a little hesitation but it clears up quick. If I get 150k out of it I did real good and won't be alarmed at a rebuild. Guess I got one with a good 2nd pack!

 
Rep Power: 811

same here, im at 91k and im hoping another 50k miles will come out of it.

 
Rep Power: 811

the biggest fail honda made with the newer trans is using only an internal panel filter, which probably became clogged with metal and chunks of clutch material within the first 5k miles. then no matter what you do, its still clogged with the break-in junk, even if you change the fluid. and this will inhibit fluid flow, esp with cold fluid. i think this is why so many people report cold shifting issues that clear up once the fluid warms up and can pass thru the clogged filter more easily. a drop in fluid pressure = slipping gears. this is worsened by a defective secondary clutch pack in some models that seems to disintegrate much faster than the others. eventually it gets so bad that the chunks will overwelm the oil pump and kill the trans. another factor is heat, these things run way too hot without a cooler. on flat road, when you are constantly in overdrive, i bet you will barely be within the heat limit. this would also explain why "extended change" honda fluid seems to break down in less than 10k miles (as evidenced by the bright red color turning brown/black). when the fluid breaks down, it becomes useless and can cause serious damage to the trans parts. many of these trans use dipsticks that are so loose, fluid can spill out due to the fluid running too hot (a very well known problem, esp in other domestics). it can also introduce contaminants. i have also seen a trend in newer cars that seems shocking to me. the trans is completely sealed from service by most diy guys, in fact there is no dipstick to even check the fluid! and the fluid they use supposedly lasts 100k miles. does anyone really believe that? are cars being designed more and more to be "idiot proof" because a majority of the population would rather not think about changing fluids or other maintenance? and these cars seem like their life is guaranteed to be only 100-150k miles if that, and then you throw it away and buy something else.

anyway, if you are stuck with a failing auto trans on these civics, heres my advice.

-if you have slipping gears only when fluid is cold, you still have time before a rebuild. once the slipping starts happening while warm, its time to shop around for rebuild.

-i would definately recommend the TCI master racing kit which includes new hi performance clutches and seals (the oem ones tend to shrink, and this also causes slipping) and also a new internal filter.

-i would also recommend changing the fluid of your new trans as soon as it starts to break in, maybe only after 1-2k miles, to ensure you remove the metal and break-in junk before it can start to kill everything again. after that, stick with 10k drain and refills with honda fluid. the honda fluid is quite good, altho others have reported amsoil synthetic atf is comparable or better. whatever you use, pick one brand and stick with it.

-dont forget to install a small trans oil cooler and external filter. there are many small coolers available from B&M and other companies that can be spliced into the atf cooler lines. honda uses part of the radiator as a "cooler" when in fact ive found that it actually heats trans fluid up faster on a cold day (thats right, the engine coolant warms up first and then in turn warms the trans fluid, NOT cools it). after operating temp is reached, the coolant and trans fluid run near the same temps, so basically you do not have a trans cooler with the oem setup, all you have is an initial trans fluid warmer! for the external filter, to grab particles and trap them quickly before they harm your new rebuild, i recommend the 2001 civic HX CVT oem filter, which has a convenient bracket and can be spliced into the cooler lines. usually the filter should be replaced yearly, but maybe more often when the trans is breaking in, and less often after that when you see the fluid is staying red much longer.

 
Rep Power: 246

Well, I got back from the dealership and my front mount is completely broken... I guess this is a common problem.

Wow another one right on the head. My control arm bushing on my passenger side is completely broken to where it is rubbing metal on metal now...

You must be psychic! My driver seat has been "rocking" since I bought the car. Got it diagnosed as the bushings need to be replaced, I just have never done it.

Only thing not on the list is my transmission bearing. I am not sure what it is, but apparently it is making horrendous noises that are not supposed to be there. I think it is the first bearing, from what they were explaining to me. So when you look at the thing inside it is

this bearing >> first gear >> reverse >> 2nd >> 3rd...

So close to $3000 in repairs. I was thinking I got the only Honda lemon, but apparently these are common problems with these civics.

 
Rep Power: 811

well alot of people will say that falls under "wear and tear" of parts. you should be lucky you dont have a ford explorer. my friend has a newer one with less than 100k and already he needed major trans work, a complete brake overhaul including new lines, and just recently a $2k repair for the entire climate control system that failed.

front engine mount is easy to diy, costs maybe $40 for the mount and an hour of time with simple tools. lca bushings, maybe $250 for labor both sides. and alignment another $80. just shop around, alot of these minor things are quite cheap.

 
Rep Power: 0

Our transmission went out today at 133K. I can remove and install it myself. What would be best in my situation? Rebuild or get a new one from the dealership? Any ideas as to where I should look?

 
Rep Power: 0

well my Honda factory rebuilt transmission i got installed in October is already having some issues. as of this morning, when i accelerate it makes a "whining" noise. i'm not talking about the engine whine or pur, i'm talking about a "whine" like if you were driving in reverse. it mostly goes away once i have been driving for 10-15 minutes, but it's still present.

any suggestions on what this could be? is it most likely a problem with the transmission? if it is, i will be royally pissed. good thing the transmission has a 3yr warranty from Honda, but i'm not a fan of having to drive back to the dealership. if i'm going to have to deal with transmission issues every 4-6 months, i'm going to kick myself for not getting rid of this POS 7th generation Civic and just going with the 2010 Subaru Forester that i was planning on doing (of course a job switch and relocation came around which made taking on a car payment not very smart)

 
Rep Power: 811

whining usually means the trans oil pump is about to fail due to debris clogging it up. shouldve had another shop do the rebuild using tciauto.com master racing overhaul kit with red eagle hi performance clutches. the honda trans with honda parts will always fail due to defective parts. i dont think honda ever released an upgraded secondary clutch pack to replace the faulty one. just get the trans fixed again under warranty and sell the car while you can since you already spent the money on the rebuilt honda trans.

 
Rep Power: 0

i will take it in to have it checked out and hopefully replaced again with another Honda factory rebuilt transmission. is it really worth selling the Civic since i have a 3-year warranty on it? since i dropped $1,900 on the Civic's transmission repair, shouldn't i get my money's worth on the repair and drive it until the end of the warranty before i trade it in?

 
Rep Power: 0

2000 Civic - EXi (D15Z4 Engine) ...... my AT issue is that during a uphill climb SOMETIMES it will down shift harshly... i could actually hear the "thud" during the down shift... changed the ATF from the agent...still no solution .... any ideas guys...????

 
Rep Power: 0

2001 2D Civic EX Automatic. Dead Tranny. 103k miles.

 
Rep Power: 0

join the club. i had a 2003 and mine died at 70K miles so at least be glad your's lasted 9+ yrs with 100K+ miles. if i were you, the first step would be to get it properly diagnosed from a Honda Dealership. then, call up Honda Corporate and tell them the situation. since your vehicle is what they refer to as high mileage, they might not pitch in but you never know. they pitched in $1,000 towards the replacement of my transmission and then they gave me a 3yr/36K warranty on it. it's worth a shot and the worst that can happen is they say no, but you have made a mark in their records that yet another 7th gen Civic has a dead transmission

do everyone a favor and make sure to post something on www.carcomplaints.com about it. it's good to get the word out about this issue in hopes that Honda will do something about it.

my belief is that the only reason why Honda hasn't done a recall on it, is b/c the Civic is a low profit-margin vehicle. their flagship Accord had transmission issues and they didn't even hesitate to issue a recall on that. however, they seem reluctant to issue a recall on the Civic and by doing so they are leaving thousands with a bad taste in their mouth about Honda and who will never purchase a Honda product again (myself being one of them)

 
Rep Power: 0

My dealer called corporate and asked about the good will discount.. The response from HQ was that since I only had an original 5 year 60k warranty, they would only go another 2years/24k miles for the goodwill discount, since it's 9years and I'm over 100k corporate wouldn't help.

 
Rep Power: 0

where did they get the 5yr/60K powertrain warranty from??? the 7th generation Civic (at least the 2001, 2002, and 2003) models had a 3yr/36K powertrain warranty. unless...did you purchase an extended warranty? either way, that's a bunch of BS because my car was 1yr and 10,000 miles beyond this so called "good will extension" that they told you about of 2yrs/24K since my transmission died in Oct 2009 with 70K miles. use my information (my date and mileage when my transmission repair and how Honda pitched in $1,000 toward the replacement transmission and giving me a 3yr/36K warranty on it) as ammunition for doing what i mention below.

the dealer doesn't give a crap if you get the goodwill discount or not, in fact they are hoping that you don't get it and you pay full out of pocket since their compensation from Honda Corporate would be less than what you would hand them out of pocket. in other words, they make more profits with out of warranty work than in-warranty work.

i would get on the phone with Honda Corporate ASAP before COB today and tell them the situation. make sure you are on the www.carcomplaints.com website on the 2001 Honda Civic page and read to them how many transmission complaints there have been and how people are beginning to organize for a class action lawsuit. throw out some #'s to the Customer Service person on the phone to support your case. again, make sure to tell them that there are people organizing for a class action lawsuit and if Honda doesn't stand behind their product and pitch in for the repair (don't use the term Good Will because it sounds like they are doing you a favor by making you pay for a designed-to-fail vehicle's repairs) from them, that you will join that lawsuit and spread the word about the issue including filing an official complaint with NHTSA and how your transmission failed while driving and you almost got into a serious accident along with the hundreds of other people on the www.carcomplaints.com website in similar situations. if you don't want to stop there, continue on threatening them that in addition to organizing for the class action lawsuit, that the leaders of the lawsuit will be contacting CNN and other major media entities to run a story on how Honda is ignoring a serious safety issue with their transmissions and as a result is acting in "gross negligence" since they are aware of the problem and are choosing NOT to act accordingly. if that fails, demand the name and ID# of the Customer Service Rep and tell them that they will be named in the lawsuit and the media story for "failure to act", then ask to speak with a supervisor

 
Rep Power: 0

2004 civic DXG bad trans at 190K - I'm not sure what exactly went on it. Spindle has play and sounds like there are rocks in it. Got an JDM tranny for cheap. works good now.

B4 it got bad a mechanic told me something may be wrong because the trans let me "easily shift" into any forward gears at any speed. ex shifting into 1st at 100k without waiting for syncros err something.. I'm not a specialist. maybe caused premature wear out i don't know.

As for Honda quality i have to agree its way down compared to earlier generations.

3 Alternators (now i have a lifetime one) (possibly a bad ground)
Exhaust Manifold (cracked)
a/c doesn't work (although it is charged)
Trunk release cable x 2 (broken again now so onto #3 soon)
Trunk latch worn out.
Clutch broke (lots of clutch pad)(dono why it gave out)
Power door lock not working on a rear door
Cluster lights wouldn't light up (bulbs were good)
A/c, Defrost, recirculate switches don't light up
Cd player wont play CD's
Sway Bar links broken on rear
maybe a few more minor things.

Mind u i have two accords on an 89 and one a 96 and both have less problems and higher mileages.

 
Rep Power: 0

Reserved.

 
Rep Power: 0

05 EX special edition mt reverse gear will sometimes not go into gear (likes to grind once I let out the clutch) and sometimes pops out of gear. Fwd gears have no such problem.

 
Rep Power: 0

108k miles now. On cold mornings recently the first 2nd to 3rd gear shifts were more a wind than shift. After a little heat it never did it again. Now as it is warm out the trans shifts fine. Still doing 10k fluid changes but think I'm on the start of a problem. Anything I can do?

Is that filter removable at all?

I called a shop that builds these transmissions and they don't like the Alto red clutches.

 
Rep Power: 811

any reason why they dont like them? the slipping when cold is a problem, ive been dealing with it for 40k miles so i think you have some time. if it shifts fine when warmed up and in the summer, dont worry just yet. its time to get nervous when the slipping happens with warm trans. keep up the yearly fluid changes and invest in an external filter, even tho its prolly too late, but at least it keeps the fluid cleaner. the internal filter cannot be removed unless you do a rebuild.

 
Rep Power: 0

This guy is out of New York. He has ads on E-Bay for $950 for a rebuilt unit with rebuilt converter and good feedback. So when I had him on the phone I asked him what they found as issues when rebuilding them. Clogged filter screens, bad clutches plus the torque converters sometimes fail. He said pumps are usually always good and the garbage factory clutches break down and send stuff into the valve body or filter. That makes it shift bad or burn up. When I mentioned the Alto reds he said he had issues with them and won't use them. Honda supposedly introduced an OEM clutch that works fine later or he likes Borg Warner. My local shop said the same thing about Borg Warner clutches.

He also said he uses a 30% higher flowing internal filter and the trans comes with a replaceable external. He said those two with a cooler it will last a long long time. I'm going to drive up and get one from him when the time comes.

 
Rep Power: 811

sounds like he knows why they fail. the clutches (and then the filter screen clogging) are the worst problem. it almost would be better not to use a screen inside, and just change the fluid more often with an external filter. once the screen clogs, it messes up everything.

 
Rep Power: 0

2002 Civic Si coupe 5 speed manual transmission - popping out of gear, particularly 2nd and 5th but can be any gear. Only 126,000KM on the car (around 80,000 miles).

Dealer tells me transmission needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Getting estimate from rebuilders now - used transmission from 03 with 76,000KM on it is $1079.

Any advice?

Will Honda Canada pony anything up on this? It's out of warranty of course, but doesn't seem right that the transmission should go. Have done all the recommended maintenance on it at the dealership.

 
Rep Power: 0

01 civic lx 130K miles... had thunking noise and shifting horribly... took it in got it rebuilt for approx 1600.... now the damn thing is still shifting horribly and they did a total rehaul ... no idea wtf the problem is... mechanic is thinking it might be electrical.. i personally have no idea...... im thinking a match and a cup of gasoline might fix the damn problem

 
Rep Power: 0

Turned out to be a cable lubrication problem. Second time I've had it in for this. Dealer ****ed up diagnosing it.

Good news though - only $120 instead of $3000!

 
Rep Power: 0

update*************

they ended up giving me a whole new trans.. the honda trans was a pure POS and tey got tired of rebuilding it.... so far no probs... 2 yr warranty.. and they didnt charge me a dime extra than what i paid for the rebuild.. if youre near central fl throw me a PM and ill give you some info ... so far its worked like it was fresh off a factory build assembly line

 
Rep Power: 0

2002 ex coupe
tranny fix by me,
**** up 3rd gear syncro and changed the 5th gear insted the 3rd and issue solved, thats consequence of using and extreme pressure plate on it lol!!!

 
Rep Power: 0

Well, I'm on numero dos, transmission number 2, honda corporate gave me a **** you because its over 200000 miles, but i've went thru 2 transmissions in 60000 miles, i'm now thinking about just swapping out totally and being done with it, anyone got any recommendations/directions to point me in/anything useful :\ i'm le stuck haha

 
Rep Power: 0

2001 civic ex 170k had to have the transmission rebuilt.. Glad my dad could do it! i DOUBT Honda would cover it.. I'm glad it lasted this long!