I have a Honda Civic 2002 LX Coupe which was bought brand new. I recently lost my trasmission, which a week after this happened I found out that from years 2001-2005 the transmissions in the civics were “garbage”. I went to a salvage yard and bought a transmission from another Civic same year but from a EX. I was told by a very reliable Honda dealership Maintenance Manager that as long as the transmission code(BMXA) was the same I would be fine. Well, another friend of mine who is an excellent mechanic swapped them for me, VOILA!!! it worked and the car runs and drives! HOWEVER, there is a loud, and constantly whirring(sounds like a belt or something is constantly rubbing on something), and the sounds gets louder with acceleration. It also stays constant even while idle and in park. I have heard from different sources that this I most probably will need to replace the Torque Converter and that this is a very expensive repair. First off…does this sound right or even remotely close? Truthfully, I just want to sell the thing. I would just like someone who has encountered this issue to shed some light. Also, what would you estimate would be the repair bill if I did get it fixed?
Truth be known, the converter should be replaced when the transmission is swapped out; especially if the former transmission suffered a catastrophic failure.
What I would be concerned about here is that during the transmission swap the converter may not have been fully seated on the splines before mating the engine and transmission together.
This could lead to an abnormal noise and/or eventual failure when the splines or flex plate gives up.
(I’m assuming for the sake of discussion that the boneyard trans does not have a problem but keep in mind that a “guaranteed good” unit from a salvage does not mean that is so.)
Exactly what does your friend who did this work have to say about it and has he advised you to not drive the car until this is sorted out?
He just recently after finishing with my car got to deployed to afghanistan, but he was telling me he couldnt figure out exactly where he thought it was coming from. He did say though, that the first couple of time he fired up the car it made the noise then he went back and adjusted something(I really dont remember what) and the noise dissappeared, but then later returned.