I bought this 97 Civic EX about a month ago from a guy that had a used engine put in after the kids he bought it from blew it up.Keep in mind the guywas an ex-Honda servicewriter and his friend thathelpedhim put it in was a Certified Honda Mechanic. Car seemed like it was in pretty decent shape, only few minor issues, so about a week or two ago I was surprised when it started popping out of 4th gear. The car has 150k on it and they used the original manual tranny. I was living with the problem, knowing something was going to have to be fixed eventually. Then the tranny started making noise while in gear. I took it to a transmission shop in town to have it looked at and they said that there was something definately wrong. Now here comes the bad part, the mechanic told me that someone had filled up the tranny with 90 weight gear oil!!!! He said people do that to cover up sounds and problems for a short time. Now I am pisssssed. It's one thing that I took a gamble on an older car and lost, but for someone to try and hide something is completly different.

Anyway couple questions....
1. Could there be anyway that there is a seal leaking and the 90 weight came from the differential? Don't think this is possible, but I thought I might give the guy the benefit of the doubt and ask. The mech. said it was a hair low, so if there was a leak it wouldn't be low.

2. Could you do a motor swap and disconnect the tranny without draining it? I called the guy on it and he said that they never checked the transmission fluid. I am calling BS on that. Why would you go through all the problem of putting in a motor and not check the transmisison out a little. Also, what teenage kid would know to put 90W in a tranny to hide problems???

3. Now that I'm gonna have to yank this thing out and put another one in, any good writeups anyone know of to help me do this? I've replace transmissions in RWD cars and trucks, but never had the fun of doing it on a FWD.


Anyway, thank you in advance for any help, and keep this in mind next time you buy a used manual vehicle...

 

well he might have just been stupid and put in that gear oil instead of OEM honda tranny fluid...
but a used car is always a gamble....

hell my 94civic i bought the guy swor up and down he rebuilt the tranny with EX gears, and it turns out my tranny is from a DX or what not, and has DX long gears in it.. but at least it doesnt grind any.....



swaping out the tranny isnt to hard reallly.... easier than most RWD vehicles..... hardest part is pulling the axles.
pretty straight forward just alittle time consuming.... remove wheels, the front axle nuts, pop the lower balljoint loose and then move the spindle outta the way out and then over to free the axle, then use a large screw driver or crowbar to pop the axle from the tranny itself then pull the axle out, and go to the other side and do it all over again.... then its simply 1 wire plug ontop of the tranny which is the speed sensor, then put a jack under the oil pan WITH A WOOD BLOCK and just put alittle tension on it, just to hold it up so it doesnt drop out....
then another jack u nder the tranny with another wooden block so it doesnt smash anything up and IMO puting a cheap ratchet strap over it and the jack to just hold it inplace beter so it doesnt drop out to early

then just remove the clutch cylinder and bracket and move the hydro lines clear of the tranny, then remove the rear middle tranny mount, remove the starter, all the tranny/motor bolts, then remove the side passenger mount fully, take it off the trany and the side rail. then just man handle the sucker back and out....

not to difficult just time consuming, BUT will save ya alot of cash if ya just remove it and drop it off at your local tranny shop to have it rebuilt.. IMO i would pay the extra cash and have it rebuilt by a good tranny shop, that way you have a warente with the tranny and its not just a USED (unknown condition) tranny swap....
and while your at it.... replace the clutch setup as well. might as well why ya got it all opened up!

 

I doubt very seriously that he put gear oil in by accident... I don't know of many people that just have gear oil laying around and he is trying to say that he never even looked at the tranny fluid. Any way, thanks for the info on the install. I'm gonna probably end up with a used tranny. Found one for $350 from a wrecked car with 60k miles. For the money that they wanted to rebuild and install, about 2 grand, I think I will take the chance with a used one.

 

ask the trany shop how much just to rebuild.... 350 seems alittle steep to me..... miles dont mean alot on trannies... all depends how well the syncros were taken care of!

IMO id just remove it yourself and drop it off to be rebuilt. but thats just me...