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I have owned a 2002 Honda civic EX automatic D17A2 for five years now. 195K, never had any shift issues or problems aside from the head gasket. I heard this the other morning right after I started my car up. I pinned the sound to the transmission so I went ahead and did a drain and fill using OEM Honda transmission fluid of course. Fluid was a little dark but not horrible. It had been 1.5 years since last drain and fill when I installed the oil cooler. Sorry for the bad video footage I didn’t record it thinking I would be posting it online, but I haven’t been able to figure out what it could be so I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

No CEL, and no codes on OBD2 scanner. I use live data often and I noticed that while driving around town the engine load % seems to be too high. Going from 0-45mph on a semi-level road it goes into the red and up to around 85-90.% is that normal? It’s only that high briefly when accelerating but it drops down to normal when cruising. I’ve looked for info on that type of data but haven’t found anything.

I also wanted to note that the whine im getting does diminish quite a bit after vehicle reaches operating temp.

I love my car, but miss my 99 civic. I never had a problem driving that car across the country several times until a taxi cab slid down a mountain in Flagstaff AZ and smashed her to pieces. One of the saddest days of my life. That’s why I bought this car because I thought it would last a couple decades. Not sure if I should sell and buy a newer civic or just keep throwing money into this one. Ok no more jabbering

 
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You didn't attach any files.

 
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Sorry I’m trying to attach file

 
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Anybody heard something like this before?

 
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it it about the high pitch squeal?
Isn't that the belts?

How did you pin the noise to the transmission?

 
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I had an overtensioned timing belt that sounded similar and quieted as it warmed up.

I’d estimate based on your mileage that it would be something worth changing anyway.

 
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I pinned the noise to transmission area using the screwdriver method. It’s obvious that when listening near the belts the sound is coming from the other side. This morning I pulled the valve cover off and checked the valve clearances. All were good. The timing belt also looks alright- I plan on changing it when I do the water pump only because I don’t know when it was last done.

the weird thing to me is that the noise started out of nowhere, there’s no shifting issues, and the sound almost disappears after driving for awhile.

from the research I’ve done I’m guessing it could be a clogged filter. These transmissions are known to have issues and the people that have cracked them open always note that the reason for failure was probably due to clogged filter. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to take it that far but looks like it’s going to need done before any damage occurs. Bummer

 
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OK, screwdriver method is good!

from past members cases, I honestly don't think their trans issues did not include noise, so hard to tell from a distance.
Maybe take to a Mr. Transmission shop to get a quote and see what they say?

 
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I'd rule out any component related to the timing belt (idler, water pump) and the accessory belt (bad A/C compressor or bad alternator) and the PS belt for a bad PS pump. Even though you say the sound is coming from the opposite side of engine.

 
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I called a couple local transmission shops.. I just don’t trust people easily when it comes to being honest and treating the problem like it’s their own. From experience they are trying to make money but I will try and let go of my prejudice and at least see what one of them says.

The AC compressor is only a year old. The power steering fluid I’ve only filled on occasion and it is brown so I need to flush that for sure. I wonder if it was the power steering pump, why would the noise almost completely disappear after driving to/from work?
My gut feeling tells me it’s a clogged filter which is not easily accessible being inside the trans. like a true soul crusher.

 
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so I’ve been able to eliminate the sound and issues with my transmission and I’m crossing my fingers that it lasts. I just wanted to share for other people that may have this same transmission and problem maybe they could fix it themselves like I did. Yesterday when I went to get the 3rd gallon of transmission fluid I could barely make it to the store it was slipping and grinding so badly I was certain that it was done for.
but I managed to get to the store and buy the fluid I also went by Napa and got a new in-line magnetic filter that I connected on the out port leading to the aftermarket transmission cooler. after I drain the fluid I ended up spraying brake cleaner into the transmission plug hole & also before I installed the in-line filter I sprayed brake cleaner into the transmission out port or whatever it’s called. I also took a long tube and shoved it into the drain plug hole and sprayed brake cleaner into the transmission that way followed by compressed air which was at least 90 psi or more. I did the same brake clean spray and compressed air spray into the out port tube and that was interesting because once I released the compressed air hose it would spray out fluid as if it was compressed into the transmission so I know that the pump is likely on the other side because the air would build up and spray transmission fluid out all over after I sprayed the air into that port.
I also sprayed brake cleaner and compressed air into the vent tube on the top of the transmission at this point I felt like there was nothing to lose and I was really hoping that whatever I was doing would knock some of the crud off of the internal filter.
after I was done doing all that I just filled it up to the correct level and took it on a drive and let me tell you it drove perfectly fine there was no slipping but most of all the extremely loud whining noise was completely eliminated.
mind you throughout the past week of having it sound like crap as in the video I shared I still today went to the transmission shop just to have them check it out and see what they thought could have been wrong and thank goodness I had the recording of the video because again today it was driving perfectly sounded better than ever and I couldn’t pinpoint any issues or feel anything wrong with it myself and neither could the transmission techs at the shop that I took it to.

so basically I wanted to thank whoever posted about the “Tyler” method where they spoke about drilling a hole into the transmission and spraying the filter with brake cleaner because that’s what gave me the idea to use the brake cleaner and I was scared to deal with drilling into the transmission and missing or damaging something so that’s why I chose the route of using a long clear tube to try and hopefully reach the filter that was in there. I will definitely try keeping this updated because I’m really not sure how long or how well my remedy will hold up or how long it’s going to last but I can say that I drove to work on the freeway yesterday all night and as well as this morning when it was really cold I started it up and the sound is still eliminated there is no more grinding or slipping of the gears and I’m just really happy that I’m not having to fork out a couple grand or buy a new car because that’s what I thought I was going to have to do. Hoping that this will last at least a year or two before I can afford to rebuild or swap my BMXA.

 
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Thanks, did not know about this fix.

 
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That's the sound mine is making!

What is this "Tyler" method? Link please.

I have no problems drilling and tapping a hole in the transmission.

 
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The original Tyler method forum i wasn’t able to find but maybe you’ll have better luck searching, start here :
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...-auto-3283445/


I didn’t drill a hole in mine. I used a long tube shoved in as far as I could get it then blasted with brake cleaner several times. I also did this in the vent tube on top and both the lines that lead to the trans cooler.

 
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Thanks, found the original post quickly. https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-.../#post50667457

That post is about a different transmission, in an accord, with a different ATF strainer but in another post https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-.../#post52356337 a guy says he did it successfully on a 2005 7th gen, exactly what I'm working on and he linked a video of him drilling the hole too.

I'm going to give it a shot and I'll post back how it works out.

I saved one of the images from the original post and am adding it here so it's in more then one place.



This is an accord tranny but the hole location on a 7th gen Civic is apparently the same.

The hole is 4.25 inches from the case seam and as close as you can get to the curved part while still staying on the flat surface.

 
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The squeal came back! It’s been a very cold winter here in Kansas. I noticed that she started squeaking when I started her up before work. The wind chill was around -15 let her warm up for about 10 minutes and the squeal stopped. I

im thinking I’m going to try and do a video tomorrow of the system I’ve used now twice go clean the internal filter. I had all kinds of crap come out the second time I did it. I think that there’s more friction material that eventually covers the filter and when this happens it’s causing the pump to whine. If I make the video I will link it here.

 
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So I went ahead and did a drain and fill again to fix the pump whine. It takes me 1 gallon of fluid to fill because of my oil cooler. I use the green can non chlorinated brake cleaner, and around 100 psi compressed air, and a long clear tube.
after draining fluid I put the tube into drain plug hole, spray the brake cleaner a few good times into the tube and then the compressed air.

Then of course there’s the oil cooler lines, the one that’s on the left which is directly connected to the pump, I will put the tube over that and do the same thing spray the brake cleaner then the compressed air. When I do this, I notice a lot of chunky crud comes out of the drain plug.

This method eliminates the pump whine for me.

 
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So, it worked. The location of the hole in the picture I shared is not exactly correct though. Since the fluid never stopped dripping out I wasn't able to get a good look in there to see which way the hole should be moved. You get a lot of fluid that doesn't come out of the drain plug at this location so be prepared for that.

I can't be sure if sticking the business end of a can of brake cleaner in the hole and spraying it in every direction I could (I used up 1 new 18oz can and PS This results in the brake cleaner and dirty fluid running back out and down your arm) or, blowing out the system with compressed air or both, is responsible for curing it but it works fine for now.

I disconnected the cooling line, at the top middle of the trans. I held the air nozzle to the fitting on the hose with only my hand and blew all the fluid out of the cooler. Then I put together an adapter and hooked my air hose (with the pressure set to 0) directly to the trans where that hose hooked up. I turned up the pressure to about 10 PSI and left that on there for about 15 minutes. This produced a small but steady stream of fluid coming out of the hole I drilled. (If you disconnect this while there's still pressure, it will spit fluid out all over so let the pressure bleed off first)

After that I did the triple fill and drain using some cheap store brand 'compatible' trans fluid and then filled it with Honda ATF.

But, here's the deal. That filter should never get plugged. Unless you pour dirt in the filler hole, the only place your going to get debris is from the clutches. So if it plugs, you need to rebuild the tranny and there's no way around that. Unplugging the filter this way is just a temporary fix.

As for ours, "Merced Aamco" supposedly rebuilt it just 25k miles ago and the filter had never plugged before they did. I'm pretty sure they just threw fiber disks on the old steel ones and they are wearing insanely fast and this is what plugged the filter. The fluid that came out was pretty dark.

So, we bought a 2017 accord with 29k miles on it and were going to sell the civic as is for $1000.

Anyone need a parts car? 2005 Civic VP, 4dr, Silver 95334 area. No really, PM me if interested. It runs great, smog, no problem, tranny is going to die, not if but when.

 
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Yea it’s definetly clutch material that I had coming out of mine every time I’ve done this. Looks like grey paper like material and it has a sparkle to it. Congrats on your new Accord!

 
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Is it a dumb idea to invest in a new AT for my 02 civic as opposed to just buying another car? My thought process is this..
I bought the car in 2016 for 3500. I’ve replaced the head gasket this summer, 2021. I’m just shy of 180k.
I’ve still got the whiny *** tranny, so I’m expecting a complete failure to happen anytime now.
Im not sure wether a rebuild would last as long as a new replacement. Also not sure on the cost for either of those options.
I would love to tear it open myself and replace the worn parts but don’t have the time or skill. I’m assuming it’s a lot more in depth than a head gasket/timing belt job.
If I get a new car then I’ll be stuck with a car payment and full coverage insurance for however long it takes to pay off.
Im leaning more towards forking out another $3k to just have the trans fixed or replaced. If I was able to get a trustworthy mechanic to do the job, I wouldn’t be stuck with any additional monthly payments and I could start saving for the rebuild of the bottom half of my engine which I would like to take care of myself.
since I did the head gasket she’s running fine and im getting 25mpg city driving.

what would you do in this situation? Just wanting to hear others opinions. Thank you

 
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If the body and engine are good I would say it's worth it. If you can drop the trans at a shop for a rebuild that will save you a ton on labour