Transmission problem.

[jay92889]

I've got a '90 Ex with 250k on it. A few days ago I was driving my car and one of my belts was squealing LOUD so I threw the car in 2nd gear and held it there for a minute or so going about 40 to help give the belt traction again. Also earlier in the day before that I did a small accidental neutral drop. Anyway, after the neutral drop, everything seemed fine. After holding the car in 2nd gear later on I noticed the car is ROUGH now when I take off from a standstill. It's like there's a 20lb weight on one of my tires now or something throwing the whole car off balance, so much so that you can actually hear the normal noise from the car becoming choppy.

This ONLY happens when I'm accelerating but once I'm at 30+ it goes away.

I'm pretty sure in the powertrain. I drove it up a hill and let it coast down from a stop and no problems. Only when I step on the gas is there a problem. If I gun it a bit more it's quick to disappear and becomes less noticeable as well, and as it's happening if I get of the gas and get on it aggressively it becomes less pronounced. I've also tested it by holding the brakes and giving it just a LITTLE gas and that roughness seems to be there at any rpm above 1100.

And one last thing, this problem is almost non existent/much better when the car is cold for a good minute or two.

Sorry for the long post, but I need to know what's wrong. Tranny fluid looks okay, might smell a bit off though. Do I simply need a fluid change since it hasn't been changed in a long time or is there something seriously wrong? Sound like a something wrong with the torque converter? Thanks in advance for any help!

-Jay

[deevergote]

A fluid change is always good. That's the main reason why Honda transmissions are "prone to failure"... because Honda automatic owners don't ever change the fluid.

I'm not an auto expert, so I can't say for sure what the issue is. Check under the car, make sure the axles and ball joints are in good shape. Take a look at your mounts (tranny mount especially...passenger side). If all that checks out, then it may be something internal.

The stuff you did SHOULDN'T cause any damage... However, holding it in 2nd going 40 (which isn't horrible... better than holding it at redline!) could potentially do some damage if the fluid isn't lubricating properly, which is possible if it's ancient.



And don't worry about the long post. Keep em coming! It's MUCH better to read one long post and get all information you can give, then to read "my transmission is bumpy wut do i do?" And then spend the next 3 hours trying to pull the details out of you. ALWAYS drown us with details. Anyone who's worth a damn will take the time to read it and try to help. If someone is too lazy to read your post, they're probably too lazy to give good advice.

[jay92889]

A fluid change is always good. That's the main reason why Honda transmissions are "prone to failure"... because Honda automatic owners don't ever change the fluid.

I'm not an auto expert, so I can't say for sure what the issue is. Check under the car, make sure the axles and ball joints are in good shape. Take a look at your mounts (tranny mount especially...passenger side). If all that checks out, then it may be something internal.

The stuff you did SHOULDN'T cause any damage... However, holding it in 2nd going 40 (which isn't horrible... better than holding it at redline!) could potentially do some damage if the fluid isn't lubricating properly, which is possible if it's ancient.



And don't worry about the long post. Keep em coming! It's MUCH better to read one long post and get all information you can give, then to read "my transmission is bumpy wut do i do?" And then spend the next 3 hours trying to pull the details out of you. ALWAYS drown us with details. Anyone who's worth a damn will take the time to read it and try to help. If someone is too lazy to read your post, they're probably too lazy to give good advice.

I agree, many auto owners can be somewhat car illiterate and only give attention to their cars when it's making a serious noise or something. I've seen quite a few nice low mileage auto cb's in the junkyard that are often in better shape than mine and I'm almost always sure they're there since they weren't maintained properly! Goes for many nice makes and models as well.

Thank you for the support by the way.

Anyway, back to business.

I replaced all of the mounts except the transmission one a couple months back, so I'll have a look and check it out. I don't think it'd be that though since it was never an issue and it's too much of a coincidence that the tranny took a slight beating that day.

If I'm able to replicate the problem problem at a standstill while holing rpms just above 1k and having the vibration I'm sure it's nothing to do with balljoints, but rather something internally wrong though the axles could be a culprit as well. To me it feels like the tq converter is screwing up though, but I'm no official mechanic.

I've also noticed the vibrations go away after 2200rpm generally.

This sucks having such a high mileage/frankenstein car. There's too many variables.

Does this seem characteristic of crappy transmission fluid to anyone? I know it hasn't been changed in at least a year, since that's how long I've had the car.

Thanks again, and thank you deev!