I have a 2001 Honda Civic that we have had all the recomended maintenance completed on it. The engine is in really good shape. The interior is in good shape. The body has a few knicks and dings, but nothing major. My husband was driving down the street and it just stopped moving forward or backwards. The engine was running perfectly. We had it towed in and were told we needed to replace the transmission. The Honda placed wanted $3000 to replace it. I am sure we can get it done for less, but I am wondering if it is worth trying to get it done. Is this going to be an ongoning problem? It has 125000 miles on it.
Its only going to be an ongoing issue if you continue to not maintain the transmission fluid.
It needs to be changed every 30k miles for long life.
BC.
The car is 10 years old. So, if you get a new trans you get another 10 years.
Did having all the recommended maintenance done include new transmission fluid every 30K miles? If you had the trans serviced was it done by any kind of Quickie Lube joint? Honda auto transmissions are very sensitive to using the proper fluid, and the proper fluid isn’t what you get at quick lubes. Have a Honda dealer service the trans to be sure Honda brand fluid is used. Or, use an independant shop and buy the fluid from a Honda dealer and supply it to the shop for the fluid change. If you do these things your next trans could outlive the original.
Please let us know what maintenance was done on the transmission. You say you’ve had “all the recommended maintenance” done. What did the manual recommend for transmission service, and what did you actually do to it for regular maintenance?
All recomended maintenance was done by the local Honda dealership which included the transmission fluid and filter changes.
We had all recomended maintenance done by the local Honda dealership which included the transmission. I am not sure exactly what the timeline was, but we took it in when the warning light came on to tell us it was time for maintenance. The dealership had a set schedule for what needed to be done according to the milage of the car. We let them do whatever they recomended. We also had the oil changed every 3000 miles by the Honda dealership.
All work was done on it by the local Honda dealership all accept for one oil change that we needed to have done and could not make it into the dealership to get it done. Otherwise the Honda dealership did it all which included the transmission fluid changes.
Jlark - try www.carcomplaints.com you will see the 2001 civic is notorious for transmission failure. call Honda. give them hell!
“call Honda. give them hell!”
Yup!
Verbally abusing the customer service staff is an excellent method for convincing them to help you.
NOT!
While it is highly unlikely that any car manufacturer would give you financial assistance for repairs on a 10 year old car, if you wanted to have any hope whatsoever of financial help, it would behoove you to be as absolutely charming as possible when speaking with their staff.
VDCdriver is right. One catches more flies with honey than vinegar.
There does; however, seem to be a high failure rate on 2001 Honda Civic automatic transmissions, even those with low mileage. Do a net search, the results speak volumes.
Perhaps VDC would be a better spokesman on your behalf than I.
As an owner of a 2001 Civic, my frustration of the specter of this happening to me was coming through more than a solution.
Perhaps I should rephrase. Call Honda. Politely point put the data. Ask them for help given the high incidence of failure. and yes… ask nicely.
$3,000 is the average price for these so they are not trying to rip you off, in fact I have seen Honda charge upwards of $3500-$4000 for a Honda factory reman.
If you want to try cheaper, a used trans can be had from a junk yard.
transman
Your car is 10 years old, with 125K miles. Did you expect the transmission to last forever? It will not be an ongoing problem. If you get a properly rebuilt transmission it should be another 10 years and 100K+ miles of happy motoring.