i have another car that is an 89 civic dx hatch, automatic. the only upgrades/fixes ive done to it are: custom muffler, replace the cv boot, and replace the spark plug wires. it has probably 180k-190k on the original engine. about a year and a half ago or so, a problem occurred when i was driving in D3. as i approached around 30-40mph, my transmission (or at least i believe its the transmission) would stall. i would push on the gas and my car would not accelerate. you could hear the engine rev but no increase in speed, instead my car would start to slow down. in order to drive and not cause an accident, i would have to shift up to D4 (keep in mind its an auto not manual) while at the same time take my foot off the gas pedal and then push down again in order to get it working again and avoid an accident. sometimes it wouldn't even work the first time, so i would have to take my foot off the pedal and reapply it again as many times as needed to get going. and then if that failed, i had to just shift to the D2 and that worked fine, but i know that it shouldn't be used for normal driving on the freeway. i haven't had the time or money to have it checked on yet. also, at the time it was a 70 mile commute to and from work with some brief hills. so rather than trying to get it fixed, i just purchased the car that i have now. my dad needs a car now and we were thinking of fixing it up so he could use it. basically, does anybody know what the problem might be and how to fix it without spending more $$ than we should? thanks!

 

you should drive in D4 all the time, the others really aren't necessary
i'm pretty sure shifting between the different D's is bad for your transmission if you do it while moving

your transmission is probably trashed
if the car's not in that great of condition, it's not really worth getting fixed, unless you do it yourself.

 

when i was driving it, i had to shift between D3 and D4 otherwise my car wouldn't go anywhere. once i reached 30-40mph and i shifted, everything was fine after that unless i had to come to a stop again. fortunately, most of my driving at that time was via freeway so i didn't have to worry about stopping too often. if the damage isn't too bad we are considering fixing it ourselves if possible.

 

you'll probably need a new transmission
should be pretty straightforward, just gotta find a new transmission to swap in
check out craiglist or ebay