so ive had this problem for awhile and never really did anything about it cause it never got any worse or any better....my car just revs up in normal drive with OD and i have to start out in 2nd gear everywhere i can go.I can shift up into 3rd its just that the normal drive wont kick in...sometimes it cant sometimes it can,pretty much i only have 2nd and 3rd gear and its been that way for a long time....i havent changed my tranny fluid in a very long time...too long too wanna admit cause someone said that when you change it that your tranny can slip alot easier or something like that.I have an auto tranny btw,so if anyone wants to ask more questions to help me out then just ask and ill try to answer.....

 

Thats suck's, and unfortunately unless you have spent some time with tranny's it only gets worse. Most shops including mine wont touch a civic tranny for anything under 1500.oo if at worse case you need to rebuild. Ive recomended to customers in the past that dont have that never ending money tree any car enthusiest dreams of to try craigslist.org, or any of the hundreds of JDM sites for a used tranny. The swap is fairly simple, and if you decide to switch to a standard you will love the feel, and the affect that you obatain from an LSD or any standard for that matter compared to an auto. Good luck, and see ya on the street.

 

ok well actually its been about 3yrs like this....i mean if it needed to be rebuilt or i needed a new one wouldnt it have REALLY gone bad by now???....someone told me to change the tranny fluid in there and use the lucas tranny stuff and that might fix it.

 

Lucas makes great stuff however it can tend to be a bandaid for a more severe problem. As far as a rebuild is concerned that was meant as worse case senario. Stranger things have happened, some rumors out there are that flushing your fluid, changing filters after way past due time can send you tranny into shock. However that is just a rumor. Most of your tranny shops will rack and test out your tranny, and in some cases you even get them to tell you your problem for free if you just sweet talk them alittle making them believe your going have them do the work.[:-]

 

someone said that if you wait a long time to change the fluid that it could make it worse and slip.....is any of that true at all???

 

That rumor started with the old GM turbo350 transmissions. People would flush them, and sometimes the solvent in the flush would weaken the internal seals and cause them to get worse. The transmissions of today need to be serviced regularly. And if it hasn't been done in a while, do it. It will NOT make your transmission worse, and in your case, it may solve your issue. I recommend you take it to a reputable repair shop that can flush your transmission and install a new filter.

 

well my dad is a mechanic so i think we are gonna do it this weekend....there is a DIY on here as well so i think we are gonna go by that.

 

Just make sure you use Honda transmission fluid when refilling - do NOT use DexronIII.

 

lol thats kinda funny cause my dad said that might work since it said it in the haynes manaul...i was gonna go to the stealership tomm to get some anyway....i really hope this helps my problem cause it always sucks trying to go everywhere starting in second gear in an auto.

 

It could just be that your shift cable is out of adjustment. When you shift to "OD", it doesn't pull the lever on the transmission far enough, and the transmission itself is still at "N."

In any case you need to change that fluid. Do not flush with solvent. Drain and refill with Honda fluid. If the new fluid looks dirty after driving for a while, drain and refill again. If you go to a place that has the "flushing" machine it can change ALL the fluid in one step, which is good, but make sure they don't use solvent and they do use only Honda fluid not generic.

Sounds like a control problem rather than worn out clutches and bands, since it sometimes goes into gear properly. If you have solenoids on the outside of the transmission it may just be one of them. Don't let a national chain talk you into doing a full rebuild.