Trinh Nguyen

Hi all,

I have a 2001 civic ex with an auto transmission. My problem is that when I go into 3rd or 4th gear, my rpms drop twice. E.g. when going to 3rd gear, the car first drops 500 rpms, and then after a very slight pause it drops another 300 rpms. This occurs only at these two gears.

The car feels fine, but wanted to make sure nothing's really wrong. I've never changed out the transmission fluid and the car has about 70k miles on it.

ezone

Welcome

Has it always done this, or is this something out of the ordinary, or is the car new to you and you noticed this?

I'd expect it to be the torque converter clutch engaging, makes the converter change from a fluid coupling with slip to direct drive 1:1. It can look and feel like an extra gear shift.
Do it now! Then do it again! Use Hondas DW1 fluid

bsmiley

If this were my car, being an 01 Auto, I'd be doing it twice like Ezone advised. Then I'd be doing it every other oil change. A drain and fill is no big deal.

Trinh Nguyen

I bought the car when it had 50k miles on it. Don't remember it doing it before, but I just might not have noticed.

I haven't changed my trans fluid since I've read to not do it if it has been a long time and hasn't been done yet. I'll plan to change out the transmission fluid. Is changing it after every other oil change the norm or just because I've neglected it for so long?

Thanks for the replies!

bsmiley

01-02 have a higher rate of auto tranny failures. A drain & fill doesn't get all the fluid, only a third. So I'd do one every 10-15k miles. Fluid is a small operating cost compared to the parts & labor for a tranny failure.

ezone

Honda had a craptacular record for automatic transmissions for many years and many models.
Do all you can (change fluid often) to keep it alive as long as possible.

But do it the right way, drain and fill. Flush machines and chemicals are 'seriously frowned upon'.