First off, there are no error codes associated with the transmission and the fluid is pink and not burned. The car has about 75,000 miles on it.

The issue I'm having is the transmission will jump 300 rpm when driving low speeds and the tach being around 1900 rpm. It will just start jumping back and forth between 1900 and 2300, only when the pedal is lightly depressed. Press the accelerator a little harder and it runs like a champ. It does this on level roads when the car should not be shifting or when very slowly coming up to speed.

It also did this with the cruise control engaged running around 60 mph. As soon as I started going up a steep incline the transmission downshifted then the tach started pulsating back and forth between 4000 and 4500 rpm and would not go any faster. It almost felt like I had hit a speed limiter. Turn off the cruise control and it stops.

My mechanic has only been able to replicate the issue in the 2nd paragraph with the cruise on as well.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks

Ed

 

7th gen civics have SO many automatic trans issues. Drive it until it pretty much totally fails and then you need to have the tranny rebuilt. With 7th gen civics it's not a question of "if the tranny will last" it's a question of "when the tranny will die." The best way to make these crappy transmissions last (yours is too far gone) is to do a tranny flush ever 20k or so. People at civicforums.com have had good luck with Valvoline maxlife fluid. Supposedly it helps a lot in extending the tranny life. Others swear by Redline mtl, but I believe that is only for a manual transmission.

 

Good news is my transmission is ok

Minor bad news was my front right wheel bearing was bad. I knew something was rubbing as it made a constant low frequency hum when the car was moving. I just assumed it was a transmission bearing because of the tach jumping around.

Now with the new wheel bearing, the transmission runs smooth as silk and no more noise.

Only thing I can think of is the metal on metal rubbing was creating current pulses that may have been scrambling one of the wheel speed sensors or at the very least giving some bad feedback signals to the control system.

I'm just happy it was a $100 fix and not $2500.

 

That's great news. You should still probably take the precautions I mentioned though, because these transmissions are known to be awful.