My 80 y.o. brother bought his Accord from our mother a few years ago. It has now only 110,000 miles on it. He took it in to a trusted mechanic simply for an oil change, and that mechanic sent him to a transmission shop due to a check engine light (code unknown). That shop told him it was a second gear clutch, and replacement would be $2200.
My question is: he barely drives the car. Is there any harm if he just keeps driving it. He says he does not see any symptoms. Will he get stranded?
He should get a second opinion or a third one if he can. His mechanic did not show him the codes and I don’t trust that. A $2200 transmission replacement on a 20 year old car that is worth barely $1000 makes no sense to me.
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The 2001 Accord was one of the years that had common transmission problems, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case here. Are there any symptoms? We’d be more able to help if you could have him find out what the code is.
+1
Severe transmission problems were a known issue with Accords of that era.
If any of us could answer that question with an assurance of being correct, I think that we would have been able to buy winning lottery tickets on a consistent basis.
Just to clarify, with any 20 year old car, it is always possible to have a mechanical breakdown, and to wind-up stranded. Once there is a known problem–such as the transmission–that possibility becomes much more likely. For many people this would be a mere inconvenience, but for an 80 year old person, it could be very problematic.
+1
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And unfortunately some dishonest mechanics know this and use it to take advantage of unsuspecting customers. Get a second or third opinion. There may be a problem…or there may not be.
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Does your brother have the 4 or 6 cylinder engine? I think the trans problems were in the I-4. In any case, you should get the codes read. Let us know what they are. I’m curious whether the CEL would illuminate for a transmission problem. The CEL is for the emissions system. There are transmission codes, but I don’t think they set the CEL.
There are transmission DTC’s.
And they do turn on the CEL.
https://www.transmissionrepaircostguide.com/transmission-diagnostic-trouble-codes-dtc/
Tester
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Telling my brother codes, with his very significant forgetfulness won’t do any good.
However, good news: I had my brother call the tranny shop to see what they said about delaying the repair. They told him that delaying should be fine since he does not have any symptoms besides the CEL. Since he drives only about 15 miles a week, I think that is a plan.
Of course, after he tells me this, he also tells me that he is having an “occasional” overheating issue…stay tuned.
A slipping transmission can cause that.
I would add this to the transmission fluid.
I’ve had great results with the stuff in transmissions that were slipping where the owner couldn’t or didn’t want to pay for a transmission replacement.
Tester
Any luck with using that product for slightly hard shifts after vehicle is warmed up? I was thinking of the Lucas transmission tune up treatment.
Again, the shift points are only slightly hard after the vehicle and transmission warms up.
When was the fluid last changed? Unless he knows it was changed less than 30,000 miles ago with Honda factory fluid I’d change it with Honda factory fluid. I’d then use the additive @Tester recommends.
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Tester: I have never driven owned an automatic. Is the 2nd gear clutch slipping generating heat just as a manual clutch slipping would? Second question: is the transmission cooled by the engine cooling system, so that the engine overheats?
If the second gear clutches are slipping it will cause overheating of the transmission.
The transmission fluid cooler is located inside the radiator.
So if the transmission starts to overheat, so can the engine,
Tester
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