A few years ago I posted a message here regarding a strange whining noise coming from my daughter's 97 Civic HX. Finally found out what was the problem (nearly 3 years later) so I figured I post it here in case anyone else needed it. Frequent transmission fluid changes will help, as will frequent oil changes. However, they won't clear it up. The local Honda dealer said they finally traced it back to a service bulleting issued in 2000 regarding a "cooing" noise coming from the transmission. The problem is reported to be that the transmission clutch starter assembly is wearing out and needs replaced. The dealer quoted me 00 parts & labor but when I checked with the local AAmco, they warned me to be careful. They said they had recently done a similar one, and encountered a number of other issues after they "opened it up" that ended up costing almost 00. They also advised that parts / rebuilt transmissions for this car (CVT) are very rare and hard to come by. A new, automatic transmission for the 97 Civic HX was then quoted at just over 00. Needless to say, with the car being 7 years old, having 70k miles on it, and having transmission problems, we decided it was best to trade it in.