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I have a 2010 Civic with an automatic transmission (not my preference, but hard to find much else used these days). I bought it about a year and a half ago (spring of 2022) from someone who said he was a former automotive tech and maintained it well and did some work on it himself; he owned it for about a year (this should have been a red flag to me, but he told me he'd gotten a higher-paying job and decided to get a newer car).

A month after I got the car, the transmission light went on, though there were no symptoms that I could see (was shifting fine, etc.). I took it to a transmission shop and they replaced a transmission solenoid (insert here that I hate automatic transmissions). Light went on after being fixed, I took it back, they said they hadn't reset something correctly. Some time later, light went on again, took it back again, they couldn't find anything wrong and thought there was an issue with the light or some sensor and it wasn't anything to worry about.

Now for the past few months it's had intermittent issues. For a while, the light would go on but no symptoms. Then for a while, either the light would be on with no symptoms, or no light on but the car would slip a bit shifting between first and second and vice versa (the “ka-chunk” feeling when shifting). I took it to my regular shop to read the code once and I can't remember exactly what it was-- I wrote it down but naturally can't find where I wrote it down-- but it had to do with a valve not closing correctly, IIRC (P0706 or P0756, maybe?). I checked the fluid level and it seemed fine.

That went away for several weeks suddenly, and then just as suddenly came back, now both with light and slipping on the shift at the same time, though the missing is still intermittent. Decided it was time to have it looked at, took it to the shop (light was on but no slipping at that time), they called later and said it needs a new transmission.

I did not, but should have, asked all of the issues with it and which code(s) it was throwing now-- since I'm not confident there was ever only one code (but I couldn't keep taking it in to have it read every few days to see what was on now) and who knows if the transmission shop even saw all of the codes at the time they had it, since it was all intermittent.

Foolishly, I agreed right then to fix the transmission so I'm taking it in next week, so really there's nothing I can do but fix it at this point (yes, I am stupid and already beating myself up enough over it, so please don't pile on), but I'm a bit worried that I made the wrong decision without asking a lot more questions and taking time to think it over.

For one, I'm not sure I trust this car to know what's wrong with itself. I was a little wary after the last fix, since it hadn't had symptoms and I wondered if maybe the car was saying something was wrong when nothing was (and I don't know how shops diagnose these days with everything being computer-based-- would they just go from it throwing a code and assume the component is bad, or is there some physical way to tell that the issue is actually an issue?). I've had other issues like this-- once had it seemingly overheat on the freeway so I had it towed to my shop, where they discovered after trial and error that the temp gauge showed overheating when it actually wasn't and it was actually a sensor issue (I should've realized when after pulling over and waiting for it to cool, I thought it had cooled quite quickly when I checked after about 20 minutes). Now, this time I know there's an issue because it's having symptoms... I'm just not sure I trust that it may be something worth replacing the whole transmission or if the car's tossing out a bunch of codes that make it look more dire than it is.

For two... my last experience with this shop. I don't know if I should be wary that the light kept going on even after the fix, or not? I'm not saying I think they're shady or incompetent, just that that seemed a bit odd and maybe I should've gotten a second opinion from somewhere else this time? I know absolutely nothing about transmissions, so have no way to evaluate.

Like I said, it's too late for me to do anything besides take this car in and get it fixed (part is ordered and I have a deposit down, and can't even get a second opinion quickly because right now the light isn't on), but just wondering for my peace of mind, and also which questions I should ask them, because I do have several to ask (like “exactly what is wrong with it and does the trans definitely need to be replaced?”).

Thanks.