Rep Power: 433

I know you're all probably saying that I'm a n00b at driving stick, but I don't drive stick. The civic has an automatic transmission, and my car stalled yesterday.

Here's what happened:
1) Unlock car
2) Step into car, sit down
3) Insert key into ignition, turn key to start the car
4) Wait for the RPM guage to go up to 1500 (that's what it usually does) and settle back down at ~700 RPMs
5) Watch needle drop down from 1500 RPMs to 700 RPMs to the bottom most line, feel car jerk and stall!
6) Repeat steps 3-5 again
7) The car finally decides to not stall, and I get to drive out of my driveway!


Has this ever happened to anyone before?

 
Rep Power: 301

no ..

 
Rep Power: 433

Oh yeah, goodyear dented my front right fender. This is just such a great week.

 
Rep Power: 811

reset ecu? maybe it needs to relearn the idle.

 
Rep Power: 0

^^^ he said he felt the car jerk...I'm thinking tranny. More than likely if this has happened once, it will happen again. When it does, I'd get it to the Honda dealer right away if it is still under warranty.

 
Rep Power: 811

The car starts to shake due to the idle dropout. It's either the ecu or one of the air sensors.

 
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Understood however, he didnt say that the car was shaking. He said he felt the car jerk and it stalled. Should we ask him again what the car did?

 
Rep Power: 811

Ya what happened. He said this did it in park I'm assuming, since he waited for the rpm to drop. I've never heard of a tranny jerking the car if it's not engaged yet.

 
Rep Power: 0

^^Autos can do some weird sh*t sometimes when there is trouble. A lot of times the problems can be very intermittent for a while too. This is why I dont trust autos.

 
Rep Power: 811

I wonder if his check engine light came on, cause there's 20+ tranny codes. It should've come on anyway I would think.

 
Rep Power: 433

No check engine light. Car did jerk and it was in park. It was like me learning to drive a manual transmission for the first time, but without any user input.

EDIT: I know that what happened to me may seem a bit far-fetched, but it did happen.

 
Rep Power: 0

If it happens again, get it into the dealer. Even if you cannot recreate the problem in front of them they might be able to diagnos the issue and fix it before it gets any worse and causes any further damage to the tranny. I think its your tranny IMO.

 
Rep Power: 433

I know it's my tranny. I took it in to Honda for a hissing noise which is pretty loud even with highway noise (>50 MPH) when shifting, but the Honda service guys said that it was normal and that all civics will do it. So I asked them to take me on a test drive in one of their 04 civic sedans, but they refused to do so saying that I had no right to take a test drive in a car that I wasn't going to purchase.

They're fricken douches.

 
Rep Power: 0

Damn man, that sucks to hear that they're giving you grief about it. Honestly though, I'm not suprised by it. None of these dealers ever wanna step up to the plate when it comes to replacing something major under warranty. Hopefully you are still under warranty and you dont have any major mods done. I'd take it back and stand your ground. I wouldnt back down from the lousy bastards if they wanted to try and tell me that theres nothing wrong with my tranny.

 
Rep Power: 433

I have no mods. That's the thing. All I have is suspension and grounding cables (which I couldn't get to the transmission because the stock airbox is so damn big), so I don't know why they won't work on my car.

I have the extended warranty, also.

 
Rep Power: 0

Its not that they WONT work on it, its just that they dont WANT to work on it. Dealerships only care about money. In all actuality, they really dont give a rats *** about their customers.If they have to end up replacing your transmission, its going to cost them a lot for the tranny (even at their cost), and also not just for the tranny, but lost revenue as well because they have to pay that mechanic to work on something they're not making any money on. I'd stay on their a$$es about it until the problem is resolved.

 
Rep Power: 0

If your are in Park, and your car stalls, the correct terminology IS "shake".

^^^ ditto.

 
Rep Power: 0

Since when are you only allowed to use one word to describe what his car is doing? You should go back and read what he said and accept it instead of trying to change his words. The words "jerk" and "shake" have entirely different meanings anyway.

 
Rep Power: 0

Some people don't read. You are ASSUMING in you're opinion that when you see the word "jerk" its tranny related. RTFP! Do you see anywhere in the post that he ENGAGED in drive when he stalled? Do you know what a tranny does? Tranny 101 - a transmission will only take you from point A to point B. It's nothing more than just mechanical gears moving your car forward or reserse.

This is a problem with sensors, idle control, etc... And you have 1 thing correct, In his case, its called "shake".

 
Rep Power: 0

Dude...just shut up man. I cant wait till infinite comes back to this thread and sees this. The car fvcking jerked man. He said it was like was driving a manual for the first time without any user input. OK...so what happens usually when someone who doesnt know how to drive a manual tries driving one for the first time??? They engage the clutch too quickly without giving it enough gas and the car stalls out. Except he didnt do anything except turn the key. Thats what he said and thats what it did. I never said the car was in drive. If you knew anything about cars you would know that autos can do weird stuff like that.

 
Rep Power: 0

Also another thing sensors, and idle control wouldnt make the whole car jerk and move like that so whatever. Wait till Infinite comes back. Maybe he can explain it better if you're still not understanding. I dont think they make a seperate forum for those with SLD.

 
Rep Power: 433

thiscrackerntam: you're correct that the car jerked. As I said in my previous post, it was like I was learning to drive stick again. And trust me, I'm really good at stalling, so I know what the car feels like when it's "jerking" vs "shaking." Shaking is when my car idles rough; in my case the car refused to even idle. It just died. Violently "shook" (for you, happygilmore) like a standard car, and then died.

 
Rep Power: 0

the dealership should be happy to take in your car... they actually profit from warranty work because the parts are paid by the guys at Honda Warranty (or extended warranty), and they also pay for the labor. It's not the dealership that pays for the parts nor the labor if warranty work is done (that's how it works at the dealership i bought my car at)

 
Rep Power: 0

I find it very doubtful that ANY dealership profits from doing work covered under warranty. If that were the case the all of the dealers across the nation would be a lot more cooperative when it comes to doing work that is supposed to be covered under warranty. Instead, you hear all these stories of unresolved issues due to warranties not being honored. Also, if what you were saying were true dont you think that the dealerships would be inviting everyone who still has a warranty to come in, lets say once a year to have their cars inspected for trouble or something along those lines? What you're saying doesnt seem logical or realistic.

 
Rep Power: 346

Hmmm... Maybe it was just a cold start. My dad always told me to rev the engine before you turn it off when its really cold so the next time you start it, it works perfectly fine.

Has it done it again? Or was that a one time thing?

 
Rep Power: 0

^^uhhh a cold start? c'mon man...

 
Rep Power: 346

I have no clue... I'm trying to see if has happened more than once and what extraneous circumstances have occured.

 
Rep Power: 433

OK, here's how my day went down:

Wake up, start car, leave house for school - 6AM
Park car at school - 6:40AM
Get out of school, start car, leave for home - 2:30PM
Get home - 3:00PM
Get onto 7thgencivic.com, read some boring threads, decide to go to 7-11 for some munchies - 4:00PM
I can't go to 7-11 right away because the car stalls. 1 hour does not give enough time for the engine to cool down enough to call it a cold start.

 
Rep Power: 0

still seems like an ecu or sensor problem. i know you dont think so but a malfunction like that can really shake (or jerk) the shi* out of a car. Believe me, i have felt it on plenty a vehicle (although never on my vic)

 
Rep Power: 0

I'm thinking torque converter maybe, but definitely something related to tranny.