92 Honda Accord Issues

Hi! I have a 1992 Accord LX with auto transmission in it. While leaving for work one morning i started the car and it ran as normal, about a mile or two from the house, i noticed the D4 light went out, and then transmission felt like it either went out of gear or slipped to 3rd. The light then came back on and the car went back to fourth gear. I got up the road to the stoplight, and came to a complete stop, and when the light turned green i started and it felt like the car was stuck in 2nd gear. i would be doing 55mph and the rpms would just keep climbing instead of shifting. I noticed that when i put the car into park, that the D4 light stayed lighted up as well as the red park light. Sometimes I’ll start the car along with the D4 light being on i’ll hear three “clicks” or “popping” sounds from where the gear shift lever is located. This has been happening for over a month now. I took it to my mechanic and they said it was a transmission isue. So I took it to a transmission specialist. At first they couldn’t find anything wrong, then they said it would drop from 4th into 2nd and I needed a new trans. So i put a new trans in. When i went to pick it up, i turned on the car and the parking light and the D4 light both lit up and the clicking sound happened again. The mechanic wants me to take it to a honda dealership but they want $100 to look at it. After buying the new transmission, thats a $100 I just don’t have right now. Any suggestion on what to do or what it could be would be greatly appreciated!

What kind of “transmission specialist” was it? When you say “you” put a new transmission in, I’ll assume that this “specialist” put it in and that it was probably a used transmission? Or maybe a rebuilt transmission?

Anyway, let me see if I have this right. You went to a transmission shop with a transmission problem. They said you needed a new transmission and installed one for you.

In the process they failed to actually fix the car, charged you anyway, and now are sending you away as if it isn’t their problem? Is all of that about right? Or is there a lot more to the story.

More than likely you need a new Transmission Control Unit (TCU) which can be had for less than $100 from a scrap yard out of a 90-93 automatic Accord. The “transmission specialists” that replaced your transmission are incompetent and should compensate you in some way.

My mechanic sent me to a transmission specialist because he thought that it might be the transmission failing but wanted a second opinion. The transmission specialist said that yes it was the transmission and wanted to rebuild my transmission for $1800-2200. Apparently they do not intall used transmissions there. I told my mechanic about this and he then offered to install a used transmission for $1300, which is what we did. We both assumed that the transmission specialist was right when he said it was the transmission but after the used one was installed I still had the same issues.

There was nothing wrong with your old transmission, just the electronics controlling it.