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i was about to go to lunch from work, when my car started shaking/rattling. i drove a little bit and it kept on shaking. i thought maybe it was my intake coming loose, but it wasn't it. as i was about to find a place to park and open the hood, the transmission light started blinking and there was a slight smell of something burning. i was doing the search, but there's too many topics on transmission and i need to do something real quick in my lunch hour. can anyone help me and tell me what might be the problem?
i have an 02 automatic with 65000+ miles on it.
i checked the transmission fluid, but it's full and i think it has somewhat of a light pink/orange color to it.
HELP!!!

 
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bump!
could this be that i need to change the transmission fluid? or is something bigger???

 
Rep Power: 301

Welcome to the hosed transmission club. Most likely it's gone. But you can always try a fluid change.... Yayy Honda!! Thanks for not admitting what a POS this tranny is.

 
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
damn it...i don't have the money for this right now.
it's gonna be: should i buy books for this semester? or fix the car???

how much did it cost to fix or replace the transmission?

 
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around 1200 for it to get rebuilt , atleast thats how much it is in my area.

mines on its way out too.. ur not alone.

 
Rep Power: 811

something isn't right. first, thewre is no transmission light. second, why does everyone think its the transmission? a burning smell could be anything. is it even slipping yet? but yea if you never changed the fluid for 65k then i'd say you're screwed. i do mine every 10k

 
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hey.if the tranny is mess up.......go manual!

 
Rep Power: 452

I was thinking the same thing, I have never seen a tranny light.

Anyway, are you sure it isnt a little picture of an engine that was blinking? I am thinking that it is your check engine light. I wouldnt go assuming anything on the tranny yet. It could be something very simple.

We need more details, what exactly did the light look like?

 
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haha...flame me everyone! i've been thinking of changing the tranny fluid, that when the the orange light that looks something like an engine or a tranny started blinking, i immediatedly assumed that it was a tranny light. DUMB!!! since i've never seen a check engine light on my civic, i thought that i'll have a red light that read "check engine light" . i even went to auto zone today after work, and the worker came out and he even saw that light, and he didn't correct me when i told him that the tranny light came on.

but back to what's going on with my car. it feels really sluggish right now. i changed my spark plugs with platinum couple weeks ago. changed my engine oil the same time i changed my spart plugs. all the belts seem fine.
there isn't any more rattling of the car or shaking, but it feels very sluggish compared to other days. it takes a second or two for the speedometer to move up or down whenever i accelerate or decelerate.

 
Rep Power: 811

did you see what the engine light was for?

 
Rep Power: 452

your problem is related to why the check engine light is on. Have the code scanned and let us know what it is and we can help you out.

 
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i got the code scanned this morning at autozone. it gave me code p101. they said that the cylinder 3 is misfiring. couple weeks ago, i only changed the spark plugs, didn't change the wires for them. how much does it cost to change them? and do i have to change all the wires for them or just for the cylinder 3?

 
Rep Power: 811

ya a misfire would definately shake the car. is it like that all the time or only when starting? they also make aftermarket plug wires that give a hotter spark. but if you're talking about a 7thgen, there are no wires, only coils.

 
Rep Power: 452

Well as with any misfire code, I would start with the plugs since you just changed them. Switch the plug from the cylinder misfiring to another cylinder and put that plug in the cylinder that is misfiring and see if it comes back. If it does on the same cylinder, then the plugs arent the issue. If it goes to the other cylinder, then the plug is the problem. Do the same with the coil if the problem presists on the same cylinder.

But also check the plugs really good.

 
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thanks guys for all the help.
but which one is the 3rd cylinder? from left to right or from right to left?? when i pooped the hood and see the engine bay??

 
Rep Power: 452

number 1 is the closest to the drivers side, 4 the farthest away.

 
Rep Power: 811

well 1 starts next to the cam gear. so it goes from right to left from the washer fluid side to the battery side 1234.

 
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ahh icic.. thank you guys, rep for both of you.
i think i'm just going to take the car to the dealership and since i know the guy who is the service manager at the dealership, he told me that he'll do the transmission fluid flush for $45, and i'm just going to ask him to check the spark plugs and coils for me. so hopefully, it's going to be cheap for me. cause i have to go up to chicago to see my girl tonight!!!

 
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You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to gearbox again.

 
Rep Power: 811

if you have a multimeter, you can check the resistance of each coil and make sure the values are all close together. i forget which prongs to test but just start testing until you see a resistance. i did this when i was having doubts about the coils being good. its very rare for them to fail but it could also be a clogged injector. if you check all that stuff and its fine, we need to consider more serious conditions like headgasket leak or valve damage.

 
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last night, i pulled out the 3rd cylinder's coil, and i saw tons of shiiet in there. it looked like there were rust on the coil and the spark plug and some perspiration on the coil. i couldn't get the part from autozone, so i had to order it, but i somewhat cleaned the coil with a clean tissue. anyway i can clean the cylinder????

 
Rep Power: 811

no the cylinder you can't clean without taking the block apart. or just use that lubecontrol.com stuff.

 
Rep Power: 452

actually you can use an intake cleaner, seafoam, GM top end cleaner (from a GM dealership) what it does is it will clean the combustion chamber deposits from the top of the pistons, and the valves and intake manifold. Basically it is a liquid that is sucked through a vacuum line while the engine is running.

 
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^ i do that once a year keeps the car running smooth.

 
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what's a seafoam? i tried to search in google, but it shows weird things. is it suppose to be a sponge or something? and do i just stick that thing into the cylinder and clean it out? i have no idea how......arrrghhhzzz

 
Rep Power: 811

its some liquid you have to put in the vacuum line. it has to be done right or bad things will happen.

 
Rep Power: 287

search for seafoam on here....its a very harsh "cleaner" that supposedly works wondwers at carbon buildup and the likes. I'd just use some fp60 from lubecontrol.com like Gearbox said (just put like 4 oz. in the gas tank or so) and not to be sarcastic sounding, but how did condensation get into the coil and plug cylinder (correct term)? aren't they waterproof thanks to the gasket and the screw?

 
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i don't know how the water got in there. few weeks ago, i changed the spark plugs, and i put the coils back in and tightened the screws. but when i was putting the new spark plugs in, i covered the screw part of the spark plugs with some lubricant so it doesn't weld up with the engine. forgot what it was called. i guess that had moisture in them? no idea. that thing was made to put on the spark plugs and all....

 
Rep Power: 452

exactly what and how much of that stuff did you put on the threads of the plug? sounds like that may have been a factor in what caused this, possibly the gasket on the plug wasnt sealing good and this stuff got on the coil.

 
Rep Power: 811

dont put crap on your plugs