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hi I am new to this forum and I was looking fo see if anyone has some
advice on my issue. I have a Honda Civic 2005 lx with 123,000 miles on it. I had no issues with the car up until a week ago. I noticed the car was slipping at a certain speed(when I got to 40 mph it would rev high but I felt like I had no power) but eventually it would shift into the next gear and it would sustain highway speed. I immediately called my dad since I’m not great with cars he said keep driving until I get to him (40 miles away) and he would check it out but the car never made it that far. It drove fine on the highway but once I got to red lights it would have a hard time picking up any acceleration until it finally crapped out at about the fifth red light and wouldn’t budge at all. We got it towed to my dads mechanic who said I needed a new transmission which we all figured. We got a junkyard transmission with only 80000 miles on it which I figured was the best case scenario. I picked the car up a few days later and it drove fine for about two hours no slipping and then it just stopped at a red light and wouldn’t budge again. I got the car towed again and the mechanic didn’t charge me but he said this transmission was bad also which I found to be odd. I picked the car up again today and he said when he cleaned out the radiator from
the original crapped out transmission he thinks he may have “blown a hole” in the tubing which ruined the second transmission. Now this third transmission he put in he told me “slips from 2nd to 3rd hear” which is unsettling because I figure hats what transmissions do when they are about to fail from what I understand. The mechanic told me it may fix itself and it may not fix itself. I’m already heavily invested in this and realize I should have went with a rebuilt transmission but cheaped out but it’s too late for that option now. My question is, is this car safe to drive now? It slips from 2nd to 3rd definitely and possibly from third to fourth (although I could be making this one up in my head); otherwise it drives fine once it gets to a certain speed? My other option is investing in a bicycle.

I appreciate any answers and sorry if the storyline is not entirely clear.

 
Rep Power: 210

Did you purchase these transmissions yourself or did the mechanic find them?
If it was the mechanic ask him (demand from him) the invoices/reciepts. Otherwise he may have just used additives like Lucas Stop Slip or Seafoam Trans-Tune to temporarily fix the issue.

Barring the above situation..salvaged transmissions are always a crap shoot.
Hopefully, you purchased them from a place that warranteed them. Might want to consider replacing mechanic as well.

 
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The mechanic found the transmission. I can demand the invoice from him but this guy is trust worthy according to my dad. He says I can drive the car if I ignore the slipping (which he said may "fix itself"). The junkyard transmission has a 3 month warrantee as its been replaced once already. Im pretty sure this guy isn't fixing to find another since he lost out on labor for the second one. Does the slipping from 2nd to 3rd definitely mean this transmission is on its last legs and will I be stranded in this car sooner rather than later? Thank you for your response.

 
Rep Power: 210

You could tell him you need the invoices for your records.

"fix itself" ...or more likely to get worse.
Ask him if he removed and cleaned the shift solenoids. Also, ask him what brand and type of ATF he used.

So, the junkyard provided the second one without charge?

I can't say definitely but, it sure isn't working properly.

If the mechanic truly replaced the second transmission and didn't charge you then he is being more than fair because it's not his fault (unless improper install) the first junkyard transmission didn't work correctly. I think with the most recent transmission he's not wanting to replace it a third time for free and that's why he's telling you it will work itself out.

 
Rep Power: 518

I bet the mechanic didn't clean out the ATF cooler inside the radiator, nor installed a filter inline, nor bypassed it with an external cooler.

Debris and contaminants from the first trans failure may have gone into the ATF cooler......and it can ruin the next transmission if it's just left there.

 
Rep Power: 210

I didn't consider that .. definitely makes sense. How should the OP approach the mechanic about that if he chooses to do so?

 
Rep Power: 518

I can't answer that...YOU should already know why LOL.

You'd have to make your approach work with the personalities of the individuals in the scenario.

Assess the intelligence of the target.....and remember this quote:
"A wise man knows his ignorance. A fool thinks he knows everything."


Some mechanics absolutely refuse to deal with anyone to seems to be smarter than they are, while others are very open to criticism and/or suggestions. (like people in any other job or industry)


NOT PC: Same way you would tell any other egotistical arrogant hothead (or precious snowflake) who is never ever wrong...that he's wrong.





Hey...I don't know if it's the right answer or not. I just tossed it out there as a strong possibility.

 
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This seems like a good thread to post my experience. I have a 2005 Civic LX 1.7L 4 door and around 6 months ago I was doing some slow steep uphill driving and the transmission started acting up. It would slip in all gears until I pulled over, turned the engine off and parked for a minute or so, then it would work well enough to move the car another mile before it started slipping.

I got the car home and the next day it drove cold quite well and I thought it might be fixed. I drove to a recommended transmission place but they only handle Nissans. The guy there recommended a place up the street and as I was making my way there the problem returned. I was able to pull into the parking lot and talk to the mechanic. He listened to the symptoms and he reacted when I told him before there was any problem there were one or two instances of a hard shift into gear at low speed leaving a parking lot. His reaction indicated that symptom suggested something to him but he didn't offer any information. He gave me the phone number of the owner and told me to call him, which I did. The deal he offered was pay him $225 or so to diagnose the problem and if I have the repair done there that will count towards the repair. And he said the most it would cost to repair would be $2400 or so.

I wasn't inclined to take the bet. My feeling is they'd take the $225 and always say, "The transmission needs to be replaced or rebuilt and that'll cost $2400." Meanwhile I have a source for a junked transmission for under $250 with a guarantee. So I figured I'd give myself a chance at fixing it.

I flushed the transmission fluid. It had been excessively brown and did smell like it had been "burning" but not really too bad. I ran like 4 quarts through (the capacity is like 6 or 7 quarts but you can only drain 3 or 4 at a time. So I diluted the old fluid somewhat. I also learned there is a common problem where the internal screen gets clogged... Other Honda cars switched to having an external transmission filter that can be replaced... I think my 1994 Acura has one for example. But the 2005 civic and nearby models have only an internal screen that is impossible to swap out with the transmission in the vehicle.

After flushing the car ran pretty well. I was able to drive about 25 miles mostly freeway driving and then after a bit of stop and go traffic the slipping returned. I got to my destination and let the car cool down. About an hour and a half later I left to return home, almost entirely freeway driving and the car performed well, with just one point where I approached a congested slightly uphill section where I pre-emptively pulled over to let the transmission "rest". This was after about 12 miles of driving. The car performed fine and I got home without any symptoms appearing.

At this point I got an external transmission oil filter part 25430-PLR-003 on e-bay and put it in series after the transmission and before the radiator. I was pretty sure this would fix the problems but I wanted to subject the car to a longer test.

I then went on a long drive, about 380 miles... LA area to San Francisco area. The car ran like a champ. Moreover I calculated I was getting 39 miles per gallon when I was used to getting 25 to 30. I didn't even have to get gas on the way. The car performed fine. On the way back after 100 miles or so during the long uphill pull from Gilroy to I-5 along 152 I was zooming along at 75 mph and the transmission started acting up, same old problem. So I limped all the way home, keeping it under 45 mph, pulling over when the transmission started to slip. I made it up the steep side of the grapevine (I5 south from where 99 forks off to Gorman, thanks to god. I had to pull over once or twice to let the transmission rest. Once I got to the top I think the car made it all the way home, mostly it's downhill which always helps.

Sorry about how long this is. The story has a happy ending, I just want to convey the details in the hopes other people will benefit. I love the civic and want it to last a long time yet and I imagine other owners feel the same.

Ok I watched a video on youtube about how to remove the transmission and found it encouraging. Here's the link: and I followed his approach and managed to get the transmission out.

I then got the transmission apart with guidance from this video... WARNING WARNING WARNING see below for what he didn't make clear. About 30 seconds into the video he has taken the smaller cover off and taken things off the 2 main shafts and then he pulls the large middle case off, lifting it off with just his arms and hands, pushing one of the shafts with his thumb. THIS IS A LIE!!!! The bearing is pressed onto the shaft and it's a pain to get it off. But more important he doesn't show the removal of the magnetic RPM sensor which has a black connector. See the middle bottom of this image:


That sensor MUST be removed before pulling the center case section away from the bottom one (the bottom one is the bell housing that has the torque converter in it). Because in my case the bearing was pressed onto the shaft I had to devise a method to pull it. I ended up using a piece of ordinary chain and some bolts and washers. I had the chain attached to the middle case section such that it crossed over the right hand shaft. I had an 8 inch threaded rod with nuts and washers and by tightening the nuts on the rod I was able to press down on the shaft and up on the chain, forcing the shaft down through the bearing. But because I didn't first remove the long black magnetic RPM sensor as I was pulling the case up I was slowly bending/breaking the sensor. Here's a picture of my broken one:


Here's what it looks like when it's in good shape:



Here's the warning: MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE THAT SENSOR BEFORE TRYING TO PULL THE MIDDLE CASE SECTION OFF!!!!

Anyway I recovered one from a junk yard and it worked. I also suspected the torque converter clutch solenoid might have been defective so I swapped that for one from a junkyard. I had been curious about how it worked so I managed to take it apart. Very simple device. Not sure it was defective before I opened it up. I managed to get it back together but I'm not sure it worked reliably... Knowing about the torque converter clutch and its purpose clued me in on what to pay attention to. When the car is driving at highway speeds the engine and transmission are intended to be locked together by the clutch. This greatly improves efficiency since the engine isn't stirring up the oil in the torque converter and using friction to transfer power to the transmission. The torque converter is supposed to come into play at lower speeds (especially when starting from a stop) and when shifting gears. When the torque converter clutch ISN'T working when you're driving along at highway speeds and you put your foot on the gas the RPM's will go up but the car won't immediately accelerate. It's something you can learn to perceive. I _think_ my re-assembled torque converter solenoid was only sometimes working. When I replaced it with one from a junk yard it seemed to be perfectly reliable... meaning at highway speeds the engine was clearly locked in sync with the transmission. This is very important for best fuel economy.

Anyway my goal now was to dig down to the filter/screen and clean it since online searches and research indicated that was likely the problem... The filter has become almost clogged and when the vehicle is driven debris can get picked up and it clogs the filter enough to cause a drop in oil pressure so the transmission starts slipping in all gears. By pulling over and turning the engine off the debris has a chance to settle back down into the bottom of the transmission and the car can be driven for a while again. THIS did turn out to be the cause of my trouble. Here's a picture of my dirty filter:



Here's how it looked after I cleaned it. I used engine degreaser and also carburator cleaner. I ran water through it backwards and managed to dislodge most of the crud. I also wiped as much of the screens as I could get to with a q-tip. It wasn't perfect but it was very much better.

While the transmission was out I checked the other solenoids. Most of them had debris trapped in their own little filters:

And after cleaning:


Ok now getting it back together was also a problem because the bearing on the main shaft was a press fit. I stupidly tried to force the middle case back down by using the bolts themselves. I got the case in place and then went around and around tightening up the bolts, forcing the case down. I assumed the case could handle the stress of pressing the bearing down but it couldn't. I heard a very loud snap, or more than one, and I luckily noticed I had cracked the aluminum case around the bearing... I was ready to give up and just buy a junked transmission but instead I loosened up the bolts and let the crack close up. I figured I had nothing to lose if I got the transmission back together, maybe it wouldn't matter. Here's a picture of the crack... I didn't take a picture of it when it was widest open, unfortunately.


You can find the crack by locating the P24 stamped on a plate. Then look at the bolt to the left of that, then look down the aluminum side. Here's a blowup:


You will see the crack extends in a curve to the left and down. That was maybe 1 mm or so apart when it was at its widest. It seems to have closed up well enough though.
I felt stupid trying to use the case to press the bearing onto the shafts. When I saw my error I loosened up all the bolts (as mentioned already) and then figured I'd use the gears and clutch assemblies themselves to pull the shaft(s) up through their associated bearings. See here:


The left one goes on first, I think. I did remember to pound the metal into the slot so the big nut wouldn't come loose. I then did the same for the right one. It might also work to get the two nuts in place and tighten them up slowly together. As I recall the left hand shaft didn't offer any resistance, the right hand shaft and bearing was the troublesome one, which is the very one the mechanic just pushes out with his thumb...

I had intended to hone out the inside race of the bearing a bit but I decided not to. I was worried about getting grit and metal dust down into the bearing.

Anyway I then put the top cover on and reinstalled the transmission into the vehicle. I did make another minor error, I got the transmission shift cable caught between the rectangular subframe and the car body... it's supposed to go below the subframe. I had the car all back together and drivable but the transmission was hard to shift, the shifter lever seemed to be binding up and getting it into park was difficult (it has to go fully into park to be able to remove the key). I had assumed when trying to separate the middle transmission case section from the bottom bell housing section and I was fighting the RPM sensor (and twisting the case, sort of) I'd bent the shift shaft or something. But when I got underneath the car and looked at the shifter cable I saw the problem. I had to detach it from the transmission and pull it back, fortunately there was about a finger's width gap so the cable hadn't been pinched/clamped. It had just been stretched a bit and sort of bent into too small a radius and that's why it didn't seem to move freely and why getting it into park was troublesome. Once I routed the cable correctly and reattached it the shifting was almost back to how it started out. Getting into park was perfect again but there is a lingering minor feel of resistance when I move the shifter level. Nothing I can't live with and learn to ignore.

So after all is said and done the transmission is performing flawlessly now. Recall that after flushing I had installed an external filter in line between the transmission and the radiator. The fluid flows out the transmission from the passenger side tube, into the bottom of the radiator and then back to the transmission into the driver's side tube. I placed an external transmission filter in series before the radiator. The part number to search for on E-Bay is 25430-PLR-003. I paid $15.12 for the first one I found but you can get 4 for $10, also free shipping if you defeat E-Bay's efforts to hide the cheapest options. I ended up buying 8 spares. So after flushing the transmission fluid early on I put a filter in series and hoped my problems were solved. My order of "solutions" was:
1) Flush transmission fluid, tested and trouble reappeared after 25 miles
2) Add in-line transmission filter, tested and trouble reappeared after 480 miles or so
3) Pulled transmission and cleaned internal filter and solenoid filters. Still testing, problems haven't returned


Oh... The previous picture is the magnetic trap that is accessable when the middle case section is removed. It's actually on the middle case section, you have to look at the bottom surface to see it. Here's another picture:


Unfortunately the magnet isn't visible in the picture, it's in the part off the bottom. This is looking into the middle transmission case section after it's been pulled off the bottom bell housing section. We can see the underside of the two big bearings. While the transmission is open you should pull that magnet trap out and clean it as well as possible. The drain plug also has a magnet. When I first drained the transmission I noticed the plug magnet also had thick black goup on it. I wiped it off onto a paper towel and confirmed it's a fine clay composed (I assume) of magnetic steel filings. The magnet was also coated in the same black goup. I wiped it off as well as I could then used carburator cleaner and an air blast to get as much crap out as I could. It's possible to separate the strong magnet from its springy metal holder but I didn't want to risk breaking either. It was easy enough to clean off all the crud so nothing visible was left. It snaps back in place easily.

One rule of thumb I wish I hadn't forgotten is, NEVER FORCE ANYTHING. So far my mistakes haven't ruined anything... knock on wood.

So long story short my problems were caused by clogged filter screens. NOTE that the car had about 190,000 miles on it and I'd stupidly never done anything to replace the fluid in the transmission, so I only have myself to blame. I intend now to drain 3 quarts and replace them every 20,000 miles or so. The fluid costs about $7 a quart at walmart, so that's about $1 every 1000 miles which is cheap if it prevents this trouble. This is the stuff: