2001 Civic LX auto. wont go into gear
 

Hi,
My civic started making this whining whirring noise. It started to slip shifting from 2nd to third. It would slip if I gave it heavy acceleration. Shifting from park to drive or reverse the transmission wouldnt engage (this was happening over several days), but it would eventually start to work. At this point the transmission will not engage at all (I shift into all options but nothing happens) and the whirring whining noise is pretty much gone. Does anyone have an idea of what this is indicative of? And what would be the best course of action for me to take.
Thanks

Have you checked the fluid level? It sounds like what typically happens when the fluid leaks out. Unfortunately, continuing to drive like that is likely to cause permanent damage.

Me too!
 

My 2001 EX quit shifting last night. It started whining a couple days ago while idling/warming up. It has been cold here (teens) during the last week. I blamed it on the cold. It is on it's way to the shop. Honda said they could look at it Monday. I'll post what I find out. Fluid would be nice but I am expecting much worse.

Yes this is similar to what happened to mine. I checked my fluid and its completely full. The fluid is brown although when put onto a paper towel. I am going to change it and see what happens. Anyone think this could help?

I just changed the fluid in the transmission which I think is about 50% of it, it went into reverse pretty good, would barely go into drive but it did. Eventually stopped going into both of them, but I was able to drive it around in reverse, but there definitely was an improvement when I first started it. Yall think I should change it again to get more of the bad fluid out. The old fluid was really bad, it was black and there was sludge at the bottom of the case, the drain bolt was covered in sludge.

I went to mycarstats or some such website and transmissions are a common problem for our year. No help from Honda unless failure occurred while under warranty. Repair/replacement quotes ranged from $2500 - $5000.

I just changed the fluid a second time. I pulled out probably 2.7 quarts (it was full when I started), then put back in 2.7 quarts and it was full up. Then I shift it through gears some more and I check it again and the level is off the stick. So I add more, probably 3.75 quarts total (now Im a little over full), and the car is going into drive and reverse essentially perfectly. I drove it up and down the driveway with no problem, and the sound was totally gone when I was done. I did not expect the improvement to be this dramatic.

That is great. I hope that is it. I wish I had mine home. Keep me posted.

I will post what Honda says about mine.

Honda says that I need a transmission. It will have a 3 year / 36000 mile warranty and cost $3800.00. Ouch!

Is yours still running?

Having mine done at Benchmark. $1000 less than Honda.