So I have a 2001 Honda Accord. Ofcourse it has their well established transmission issue. It’s not terrible though and it doesn’t bother me. It rarely bucks, as in once or so a month but i clearly isn’t shifting completely right. It’s been doing it since I got the car 9 months ago though. A mechanic I took the car too (not for the transmission) had driven it and noted the transmission should be fixed in the future.
My question is should I get the transmission fixed soon or just wait till it stops working completely/gets much worse. My fear is that they will fix parts of it for a high cost and then a few months later a different part will fail. It’s a got 102k miles. I’m a broke recent college graduate in Los Angeles. I’m just wondering what will be better for my car and namely the most cost effective.
Will it be extremely more expensive to drive it till the tranny goes or to have them pull it apart and fix it now? I can’t be certain but I assume they will have to replace a lot of the transmission if not the whole thing in order to fix it now.
If you can spare enough for a basic diagnostic charge at a transmission shop I think that would be a good idea. Perhaps there are things going on that can be dealt with to prolong the transmission, including basic servicing. When I say transmission shop, I mean a) a shop that specializes in transmission work. Most mechanics don’t actually have any expertise with automatic transmissions. And b) don’t use any kind of nationally known transmission chain operation. You want a locally owned shop with a good reputation.
But - if these are truly the classic Accord transmission issues, then there’s no point in doing anything other than driving it as long as it will go. Fixing a transmission in this situation is really an all or nothing thing. The thing is either completely torn down and rebuilt - or nothing is done at all. But it would be best to have a professional transmission tech evaluate it and advise you. Figure it costs you an hour’s labor at whatever the rate is to check it over and give you feedback.
You might be able to prevent long term damage by changing the transmission’s pressure switches, which can be done from the outside. the 3rd and 4th gear switches were the ones that tended to go bad and cause the transmission to destroy itself over time. Have the fluid exchanged, a new filter put in, and then replace the switches. That might stave off disaster for a number of years, anyway.
No Sir,both 4 bangers,I’m not really impressed by a lot of the V type engines,they run great but can inhale deeply in your pocketbook(I wish that some of these manus would bump thier 4 cyls up a little) but that being said those v-6 Hondas have a lot of zip and grunt-Kevin
Do have the transmission serviced at a Honda dealer and using the new DW1 ATF. It helps the transmissions with any cold shifting problems. The ATF should be changed every 30k miles.
If you can do an oil change, you can do an ATF change on a Honda, just pull the drain plug, reinstall and put in 2.5 qts through the dipstick. No filter to clean or replace.
I’ve been very happy with the V6 in my TL, but I got the year when they started putting in the upgraded transmission that didn’t destroy itself like older ones did. It’s definitely got some punch when I need it, but yeah - especially around town mileage is pretty pathetic. I’m lucky to get 23. Ironically my fun sports car that I drive in the summer gets much better mileage.