My 18 yr old son is driving his grandmothers 1988 Honda Civic DX. There are at least 120,000 miles on the engine. At the latest inspection the mechanic told me that the transmission is starting to slip between second and third gear. A rebuilt transmission would cost about $800. Is my son in danger if he just continues to drive the car until the transmission goes and then we repair it?
I’m assuming this car has an automatic transmission.
Danger? None that I can think of.
I don’t know if I’d wait for it to fail completely, though. When and where that will happen is impossible to predict, but whenever and wherever it happens it will be very inconvenient, and the car will probably have to be towed.
I’d want to schedule the transmission replacement at my convenience. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, but when the shifting starts getting pretty bad I’d set up an appointment before the car becomes impossible to drive.
That’s great to hear. Thanks for the quick reply. I’m trying to find a way to get a cheaper transmission so I’ll be getting it fixed at some point.
If you get a rebuilt transmission from a reputable shop with a decent warranty $800 doesn’t sound too bad. The car should have lots of life left if it’s been properly cared for. 120K miles on a Civic isn’t too much.
You want a transmission rebuilt by an independent shop. Stay away from the big-name national chain shops. Too many horror stories.
$800 for a rebuilt transmission is a steal.
transman