Hey guys, so so yesterday I got my first car. My mom gave me 1k to play with and I've always wanted a civic, so that's what I got. A '93 Civic DX Coupe. Now, everyone tells me it's a good buy EXCEPT my mom. She hates it. Only because It needs a paintjob cause it's sunfaded. It could have been worse. I could have gotten one with primer Anyways, the car drives fine. But I've noticed something my Mechanic said is fine but I want help from people who have experience with this. When it's shifting into Second, it shifts at about 20mph which is fine, but when it's shifting into third, it waits all the way til about 40mph. What concerns me is that I'm not sure if the rpm should be going so high. I sounds sort of like your driving a stick car and are running up the rpm before shifting. Instead of shifting at like 2-3k rpm it feels like its going to 5k then shifting just to get into 3rd. Maybe I'm just paranoid since it's my first car and all, but do you guys know a fix to this or if its serious and gonna cost a lot?

Specs:
'93
Civic
DX
Coupe
2dr
D16

 

The automatic transmission in your '93 runs off of vacuum pressure, so it all depends on what speed and how much throttle you give it as to when it shifts. If you just give it a little gas, it'll shift at much lower RPMs. If you floor it, it'll shift at higher ones.

But without being able to drive your car, or getting more info on your driving style, how it shifts with various throttle inputs, etc., it'll be tough to give you a straight answer.

 

Thinking about it, I do give it a bit of throttle just to get up to 40 then I settle down at whatever the limit is. So maybe it's because I try to speed up too fast and to just slow it down?

 

like christian said, do a few runs with slight pressure on the gas, then do a few more runs with a little more pressure on the gas and do it again being aggressive.

it should different differently for each of the different runs you do.

And since the car is used I would definitely check the fluids. Automatic transmission fluid, engine oil, and coolant.

Check the coolant and oil before you drive. I would do an oil change with something like mobil 1 high mileage synthetic. If you change the oil look for any brownish or discolored swirls in the oil. If the oil just looks dark that's fine.

Coolant should be green or whatever color was in it previously with no deposits or anything else mixed/floating in it.

 

Okay, thank you so much.