This is in regards to the 2002 Acura 3.2 CL tranny.
Today was the first day on the road for the car (its been waiting on reg and insurence) for the past month. While driving I felt something i did not during my test drive. 1 to 2 is ok, 2-3 AND 3-4 lags. RPM will pop slightly, then drop into gear. this is under slow driving conditions (due to weather). I’m paranoid about the tranny. I’ve heard about numerous problems with 01-02. PLEASE PLEASE tell me i’m paranoid and its just a combination of sittin unused for a month and VERY cold weather.
Was the engine/trans up to operating temperature??? I noticed something similar with the '55 Chevy that’s in my sig. Last month, after sitting for over one month, I needed to pull it out of the garage so that I could do some cleanup. Started it up, let it idle for about 1 minute, put in drive and went to pull out…noticed an issue where it was sluggish to get moving. Once I was out, I went for reverse and noticed it to be significantly worse, but it still moved.
I concluded these issues to be from cold temps and sitting for over a month…and not having the eng/trans up to normal operating temperature.
*Note, I could be wrong about all this being the reason…but for now it makes sense seeing as the last time I drove it it drove fine.
newman- yeah man salvo car. Checked out with my mechanic, though to cant take out the tranny with visual inspection, so his driving impressions/ visual inspections were positive.
Mike93- that sounds plausibile, esp since I had it sitting under 2 ft of snow for a week, and in the cold for 3-4 weeks.
i get buyers remorse in the worst way. i’m ALWAYS paranoid about the smallest defect, rattle, shake ect. I guess ill reserve crapping myself untill later. I should give it a week of solid driving at temp before I come to conclusions.
I’m only fair-minded after showers and naps and i just woke up so i suppose im thinking a bit clearer…
Do a flush with Honda brand transmission fluid. What you describe does not sound like a slip. Automatics do funky things sometimes. I would atleast put some miles on it.
Good suggestions. If you don’t flush the trans, at least drop the pan and change out the filter. You can clean off the tranny magnet/pan and replace some of the old fluid too.
Also, may want to have a dealership reflash the ECU, that can eliminate jerkiness. I’m wondering if this an electronic problem and not mechanical.
One more thing to consider is how many miles are on the car? just an FYI sometimes flushing a tranny causes more problems than it solves with a flush on higher miles cars.
Those automatics are horridly poor. Honda shoved essentially the same trans in my car, and they fail often. Some make it to 200k and never have a problem before they total the car, but a very high percent of people have imploded one at 40k-60k. Its almost guaranteed by 100k.
Drain and fill with honda ATF, and take it easy on it. Let the car warm up for a little while before driving in these temps so the engine isnt winding out to 1,500 rpm as you dump it into reverse. When my trans is under about 40ºF, it revs slightly before it shifts into gears, but theres no lag. Im not sure on your warranty status, but honda extended the trans warranty on the 98-02 Accords to 105k. So if youre a decent amount under that, take it easy and ride it out. If youre close, take it to the dealer and see if they can replace it.
Changing the fluid has no effect on transmission performance,it will not fix something that is wrong.However if the battery was disconected or dead it may need to relearn.Just drive it and see if it changes.If not take it to a trans shop and have it looked at.
actually with what i was saying about being wary about fluid changing. Changing it on a higher mileage tranny , flushing it, can cause problems with knocking the dirt and sediment loose and gunking up the tranny to start causing more problems. i’ve sen it several times before.
OR
it has the opposite effect. You clean out all that dirt on a slipping tranny and it will start slipping more because of the lack of friction within the clutch packs
I work at a trans shop and know thats BS.You would be very disapointed when you change it and it doesnt do a thing.Also the honda trans fluid is alittle pricey.
Everyone that has had trans issues with the V6 Accord that did a drain and fill, reported the trans to shift much better. Its possible it could be all mental, but not worrying as much about the trans imploding is better than being in constant fear. Im not talking about automatic transmissions in general, i have seen numerous people with this exact transmission have problems, and those ‘problems’ according to them go away after a drain and fill. Most people running boost replace the trans fluid every other oil change, and they generally hold up as long as you dont drive stupid.
It probably has never been changed, how is it not beneficial to put new fluid in? Its $30.
Not talking about a flush here, just a drain and fill.
My point being is what has happened to the fluid?If its burnt the trannys slipping,If it full of metal somethings coming apart.Yes honda fluid has more friction modifiers in it,but if it was filled with it already i dont see any reason to change it.If you put regular mercon dextron in it without a friction modifier in it you will get chattering on the shifts.I have seen many cars and trucks that have never had the fluid changed and have 100,00 to 160,000 miles on it.And they didnt fail because the fluid.It would be very rare to see fluid that bad that it needs to be changed,and the only way it would of got bad would be heat(slipping).
I suppose those are valid points, but the sludge that came out of my trans when I got the car at 40k was horrid. It was black, and possibly magnetic. The magnetic drain plug was coated in crap, yet another reason to replace the fluid.
Theres going to be some wear. I just think it would be a good idea to put some new ATF-Z1 in there. Although I do replace fluids unnecessarily prematurely…